AB 2470: Invasive Species Council of California.

(1)Existing law generally provides for the eradication of pests that threaten this states agriculture and imposes various duties on the Department of Food and Agriculture in that regard. Under existing law, the department is designated as the lead department in noxious weed management, and requires the department, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, to implement provisions relating to noxious weed management.

This bill would establish the Invasive Species Council of California, with a prescribed membership, to help coordinate a comprehensive effort to prevent the introduction of invasive species in the state and to advise state agencies how to facilitate coordinated, complementary, and cost-effective control or eradication of invasive species that have entered or are already established in the state, as specified.

The bill would authorize the council to establish advisory committees and ad hoc working groups, including the California Invasive Species Advisory Committee, with a prescribed membership, to advise the council on a broad array of issues related to preventing the introduction of invasive species and providing for their control or eradication, as well as minimizing the economic, ecological, and human health impacts that invasive species cause, as specified.

The bill would require the council to coordinate with state and local public agencies, publicly funded educational institutions, and stakeholder groups to develop a plan for the cure or suppression of diseases associated with the spread of invasive shot hole borers.

The bill would establish the Invasive Species Account in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and moneys in the account would be available, upon appropriation, to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture for the purposes of funding invasive species projects and activities recommended by the council.

(2)Existing law creates the Noxious Weed Management Account in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, and provides for the allocation of those moneys, by percentage, for specified purposes, including control and abatement and research, and to the department for the purposes of carrying out those provisions relating to noxious weed management.

This bill would revise the purposes for which 20% of the moneys in the Noxious Weed Management Account are to be allocated for research to instead be made available through a grant program administered by the department for proposals evaluated in consultation with the Range Management Advisory Committee, with an emphasis placed on the funding of needs-based, applied, and practical research, as specified.