Bill > AB43

This bill indefinitely extends the authority of the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to add rivers or river segments to California's state wild and scenic rivers system under specific circumstances. Currently, the law allows the secretary to take such action only until December 31, 2025, if the federal government enacts a statute that would require removing or delisting a river from the national wild and scenic rivers system. The bill removes the previous time limitation, enabling the secretary to permanently protect rivers that might lose their federal wild and scenic river status. The process requires the secretary to hold a public hearing, evaluate whether state protection is in the best interest of California, and potentially add the river to the state system while maintaining the same geographic boundaries and protective scope as the original federal designation. The bill ensures that any state designation would not exceed the protections of the original federal designation and allows the Legislature to subsequently remove, modify, or reclassify such river designations through statute.

Agriculture and Natural Resources, Budget and Finance

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB43