Senate Passes Sen. Blakespear’s Legislation to Protect Habitat Conservation Fund
SACRAMENTO – The Senate on Monday passed legislation by Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, and Sen. Henry Stern, D-Los Angeles, to extend funding to acquire, restore and enhance wildlife habitats across the state to 2035.
SB 427 would push the sunset date from July 1, 2030, to July 1, 2035, for the Habitat Conservation Fund (HCF), which was established under Proposition 117, the California Wildlife Protection Act passed by voters in June 1990. To date, the fund has protected more than 1.2 million acres of wildlife habitat throughout California.
“The Habitat Conservation Fund has been essential for safeguarding California’s open spaces and protecting and restoring wildlife habitat,” Sen. Blakespear said. “SB 427 ensures this important fund will continue delivering for the state for another decade.”
The program has funded hundreds of projects. They include the world’s largest wildlife crossing over Highway 101 in Agoura Hills, a new trails gateway into Redwood National and State Parks and an ancestral land-return project in San Bernardino County.
The Wildlife Conservation Board has allocated $13.9 million in HCF money in Senate District 38 for projects since 1990, including $1.9 million for habitat linkages along Lusardi Creek in San Diego County, $2.2 million for the acquisition of 134 acres along Buena Vista Creek in Carlsbad and Oceanside and $1.3 million for the Trabuco Creek Fish Passage Project in south Orange County. Cities, counties and any regional park or open-space district are eligible to apply for these funds.
Prop 117 directed $30 million to be transferred annually from the state’s General Fund into the conservation fund until 2020. In 2019, the Legislature and Governor extended the fund until 2030. The money is distributed by the Wildlife Conservation Board.
In recent years, however, state budgetary pressures have led lawmakers to consider discontinuing the fund. Last year, the Governor initially recommended ending the General Fund transfers to the HCF six years early, but Sen. Blakespear fought the proposal and helped keep the fund intact.
The legislation is co-sponsored by Audubon California and the National Wildlife Federation, and supported by the Planning and Conservation League and more than 90 other organizations.
SB 427 passed on a bipartisan 36-0 vote and goes next to the Assembly for consideration.
Blakespear represents Senate District 38, which covers northern San Diego County and part of southern Orange County. To learn more about the district and Sen. Blakespear, visit her Senate website.