Assembly Standing Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife

The injuries found on the young whales underscored the relentless challenge that these endangered species face across the globe. Increased sea traffic from shipping, industrial operations, and recreational boating add to the complex marine environment that whales must navigate. In addition to the threat of ship strikes, shipping noise can disrupt whale navigation, feeding patterns, and social interactions. Addressing this urgent issue requires a comprehensive approach.

Research points to a straightforward but impactful solution, slowing boats down, which is something that we started many decades ago in Santa Barbara County and in Ventura County. And now Assembly Member Hart is trying to expand this to the coast of California. Slower speeds in critical marine zones can play a pivotal role in preventing boat strikes, reducing disruptive noise that hampers whale communication, and lowering carbon emissions along the coast.

AB 2298 will establish the California Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies, a statewide voluntary vessel speed reduction program. The legislation will provide shipping companies with formal recognition and endorsement from the State of California for slowing their speed to less than 10 knots, reducing emissions, and safeguarding whales. This Bill builds upon the successes of the Voluntary Vessel Speed Reduction Program that was started in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Since its inception, the local program has reduced whale strikes by almost 50% and has curbed 4,400 tons of toxic emissions. AB 2298 will expand the benefits of this program to communities across the entire California coast. And speaking here today is Alan Abbs, representing the Bay Area Quality Management District, and really appreciate your attendance here today. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair and Members of the Committee, my name is Alan Abbs. I'm the Legislative Officer for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. And we're going to kick off the agenda today with the charismatic megafauna portion before we get to the smaller animals. And along with the Santa Barbara County APCD, we are co-sponsors of AB 2298 the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Act.

AB 2298 would establish a process to expand existing voluntary vessel speed reduction programs for ocean-going cargo ships along the entire California coast. I'd really like to thank the Committee staff for their excellent analysis of the Bill, because when you read it, you can understand why the Ocean Protection Council identified voluntary vessel speed reduction as a desired program to develop in their 2020 to 2025 strategic plan.

This Bill would recognize the decade-long work initiated by the Santa Barbara County and Ventura County Air Pollution Control Districts and create a stakeholder process to expand the existing voluntary VSR program to cover the rest of the state. This program was created in 2014, originally in the Santa Barbara and Ventura air districts, expanded to portions of the Bay Area, and has resulted in increased slow-speed transits from 30% of ships in its inception to over 80% of cargo ships in 2023.

These existing voluntary programs reduce air pollution in coastal communities, reduce underwater noise, and reduce threats of ship strikes to several species of whales, some of which are listed as endangered. Our existing programs have been embraced by many international shipping companies who routinely tout their participation, and as the analysis notes, expanding this voluntary program to other parts of the coast and recognizing participation by shipping companies would increase marine mammal and air quality benefits.

AB 2298 is supported by coastal air districts, the Marine Sanctuary Foundation, the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, ocean and mammal protection groups, and other environmental groups, and has no listed opposition. I'd like to thank Assembly Members Hart and Assembly Member Bennett for his leadership on this issue, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have, and I respectfully ask for your Aye vote on this voluntary program.

Madam Chair and Members. Brendan Twohig on behalf of the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association, which are the air pollution control officers from all 35 local air districts. We're in support.

Madam Chair and Members, Baltazar Cornejo with Brownstein on behalf of the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, which administers a local program, in strong support. Thank you.

Little slug slow today. Okay. Good morning, Madam Chair and Members. Thank you for allowing me to present AB 1850 to raise awareness about the banana slug and to include my distinguished witnesses to testify in support. Existing law establishes various state symbols, including the state tartan, the state fifen drum band, and the state soil.

These state symbols bring about historical and cultural appreciation to millions of Californians learning about their state, as well as to visitors who learn about our state symbols in educational spaces like museums and our very own state capitol building. Fun fact, banana slugs have more teeth than a shark. Can you imagine? They have 27,000 teeth on their long, tooth covered tongue.

Today, there is no state slug, and to boost appreciation of this iconic specimen, AB 1850, which was numbered after the year California officially became a state, recognizes the banana slug as California's official state slug. With me to testify in support, I have two distinguished banana slug enthusiasts. Addison, who's in fifth grade, and Estelle, who is in first grade.

So we'll start. Go ahead with Addison.

Thank you, Madam Chair Members. My name is Addison. I'm here on behalf of the young banana slug fan in California. And my fifth grade school camp was the first time I saw a young banana slug and I thought it was awesome. I wanted to learn more about it when I got home. As you may know, our great state is amazing because of the number of plants and animal species that are unique to the state.

Everyone knows that the California poppy is our state flower, and I want everyone to learn about the banana slug. Banana slugs are a prime example of species that displays the rapid evolution that has made California extremely biologically diverse. Banana slugs are land based gastropodmolics. So, contrary to popular belief, banana slugs are not bugs. Banana slugs contribute to the health of their environments by cleaning up the forest, by spreading seeds and spores, acting as pollinators like bees, and eating poison oak and death angel mushrooms.

Banana slugs are very important to the coast redwood and help these trees grow by eating the plant which would battle with the seedlings for sunlight, water and nutrients. Because of AB 1850, I have learned all this information about the banana slug, and I respectfully ask for your aye vote to promote more people about learning about the banana slug.

Hi, madam chairs and Members. Hi, my name is Estelle. I am six years old from Modesto, California. I'm here on behalf of young California in support of AB 1850, a Bill to make the banana slug the official state slug. There are many types of slug and slugs in California. 17 to be exact. But only the banana slug looks like a banana, and some even have brown spots to look like a real old banana.

Banana slugs live in the redwood forest and travel slowly across the forest to eat small pieces of dead plant and animals. They are really important to our planet because they help break down waste in the forest. Although there are six species of banana slugs, only one kind, the Pacific banana slug, is found outside California. This makes the banana slug a great symbol to represent the State of California. Also, the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been a banana slug as its mascot. And his name is Sammy the slug. Now, I would also like to show a drawing that I made to the... Want to vote?

Thank you. We're going to pause just for a moment to establish a quorum secretary. Please call the roll

[Roll Call]

All right, we have a quorum, and we have our two witnesses who've spoken. Do we have any opposition in the room? I don't see any. So we'll go to public comment and supports.

Good morning, chair and Members. Abigail Smet, on behalf of the California State Parks foundation, and we are very excited to strongly support this Bill.

Thank you. Seeing no others will go back to the Committee. Any comment? I want to compliment the witnesses for their strong testimony. Amazing reading from both of you. Fabulous artwork. I think you've started our day very well. So thank you, Mr. Gallagher.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Estelle, Addison. Great job. Stellar testimony. So first grade and fifth grade and fifth grade. Okay, well, this is the next generation of leaders here, so it's great to see you guys here this morning. And if there's going to be a state slug, I would say it has to be the banana slug. I will be supporting this measure this morning based on the compelling testimony that I heard. Thank you.

All right, Ms. Weber, good morning.

I want to echo. You both did an amazing job. Do you have a question for the author? Is there any particular reason why you're doing the entire genus of slug instead of the specific banana slug?

We just decided that we wanted to give the banana slug the recognition it deserves, and we felt that that was the right category for this, and so we went with the slug.

So is there not a specific individual species of the banana slug within the genus?

How many different slugs did you say we have? Six. Yeah. So this is a slug that's found primarily in California, and it is something that is very important to our ecological system in the redwoods and known to be found throughout our coastal region. And so we wanted to highlight it as a slug.

No, I understand that, but as was pointed out in the analysis, this is doing the entire genus of the slug, when a lot of times when we do these state symbols, it's for the specific individual species within the genus.

We just decided to narrow it down to the slug to broaden it out, to broaden it.

I think we heard from our witness that there is only one type of slug, the Pacific coast slug, that is actually outside of the State of California, a banana slug. So the other five in the genus are actually only native to California, if that helps.

All right, well, we've gotten technical here.

I got technical. Yes.

Thank you for slugging it. You'd like to close?

So, as you can see, this Bill has already acted as a powerful vehicle to civic engagement during a tough budget situation. And with permission from the chair, I'd like to share some other artwork we had submitted. We did an art contest.

Absolutely.

So this was our winner, this banana slug here. Very nicely done. And we had some submitted by younger artists as well. That one says, yummy. Cool. And this one really brings out the banana theme. And we have this one that also features our state flower. And this one is digitally created, which is quite fascinating as well. And then we have one that's slay the day, which I wish for all of you today. So thank you very much. I respectfully ask for your. I vote. And I want to thank my witnesses for being here today to testify.

Yes. Thank you. Secretary, I believe we have a first. And a second. Please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

All right, your Bill is out. Congratulations. Secretary, I believe we had a motion in a second on item three. AB 2298 will you please call the roll on that?

[Roll Call]

Mr. Bennett, you may let Mr. Hart know his Bill is out. Do we have a motion and a second on the consent calendar? Please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

All right, consent calendars out. Ms. Dixon, are you ready? You may proceed. Thank you.

This is on. Good morning. Good morning, all Members and colleagues. And chair. Is the chair not here?

Many Members are presenting that are in and out today.

Okay. I just want to introduce my guest, Supervisor Katrina Foley of Orange County. AB 2504. I'm here to present AB 2504. AB 2504 will recognize the black abalone as the official state seashell of California. California is home to a beautiful, vast coastline and a biodiversity hotspot. It is vitally important to the preservation of our ecosystem that we recognize key features that make California so special. The black abalone is unique to the rocky intertidal zones of California and Mexico.

The shell of the black abalone has great historical significance and was used by Native American tribes for food, trade, jewelry, and ceremony regalia. In the 1980s, the shell was almost completely eliminated from our shores by withering foot syndrome in Southern California after an El Niño event. Since then, the black abalone has been considered an endangered species. Today, I have with me Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley to speak in support of AB 2504.

Thank you, Assemblywoman. Thank you, Esteemed Members of this Committee for the opportunity to speak on behalf of AB 2504, which recognizes California's coastal biodiversity and history. I am Katrina Foley, County Supervisor, representing the fifth district, which stretches 31 miles along the coast from Costa Mesa all the way to San Clemente, and as indicated, there has been a challenge to the abalone shell and the abalone species, and it has been put on the endangered species list.

But what people don't often know is that it's a highly evolved species that is used in science to really understand resiliency. I happen to have a brother-in-law who studies abalone, and so I know this personally, and this abalone is very important to us understanding how to be resilient for climate change.

In 1983, 99 percent of black abalone in the Channel Islands National Park were wiped out by the disease, which is caused by the bacteria referenced by the Assembly Member, and the extreme vulnerability of the species led to its designation as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2009. Now, in our present time of rapidly shifting climate, an additional threat faces the black abalone. Debris that flows originating from heavy rain following the wildfires has buried intertidal habitats and inundated them with toxins and other foreign materials.

The 2020 Dolan Fire in Big Sur was followed by landslides that significantly impacted one of the strongest remaining populations of black abalone. So, as I mentioned, my district runs 31 miles along the coast. We have many, many tide pools, and we also have Laguna Beach and a severe wildfire zone in our district. This region has experienced wildfires, subsequent landslides, increasing frequency due to the effect of climate change.

AB 2504 presents a crucial opportunity to acknowledge the black abalone's historical significance, address its current plight, and provide a platform for education, poaching prevention, and recovery efforts. As scientists continue to study this important species, we know more about the ability for it to survive dramatic environmental changes which provide a model for resiliency in the face of climate change. So we hope that you will support this great opportunity to recognize AB 2504 and preserve our iconic California species. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you, and we have no opposition on file, so we will go to public comment.

Not quite as persuasive as the little girls who presented before me, but I did my best.

You did a great job, Supervisor. Great job. All right, seeing no public comment, we'll go back to the Committee. All right, we've got a motion and a second. Secretary, please call--oh, sorry. Ms. Dixon, would you like to close?

I would like to--your appreciation. Thank you, Members. I would appreciate an aye vote. Thank you very much.

All right.

Okay. AB 254: motion is do pass. [Roll Call].

All right.

Thank you.

Bill is out, and I'll hold the roll for our Chairwoman and any others you need to add on, and we are done. That was the consent. Wood's was consent. Do you have Pellerin? You're good as well?

I'm good.

Thank you. Mr. Alanis is finishing in public safety now. He'll be walking over. Secretary, will you call the roll for Mr. Alanis?

AB 1797. Motion is on consent. Motion is do pass. [Roll Call]

Check, check, check. That's way better. And here is Assembly Member Alvarez. Excellent.

Okay. Item number one, AB 1797 consent calendar. The motion is do pass. [Roll Call]

Okay. We'll get the last votes in.

Okay. AB 1797, motion is do pass the consent calendar. [Roll Call] That bill is out. Thirteen to zero. And AB 1850. Motion is do pass. [Roll Call] That is 13 to zero. AB 2298, motion is do pass as amended to Natural Resources. [Roll Call] That is 13 to zero. And AB 254, motion is do pass. [Roll Call] And that is also 13 to zero.

Thank you, Assemblyman Villapudua. We appreciate it. Have a great day. We are adjourned.