SB818 - Mountain Lions: human-mountain lion conflicts program: scientific research: County of El Dorado.

Amended IN Senate May 01, 2025 Amended IN Senate April 10, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 818 Introduced by Senator Alvarado-Gil February 21, 2025 An act to amend Section 4808 of, and to add Section 4801.6 to, add and repeal Sections 4811, 4811.2, 4811.4, 4811.6, and 4811.8 of the Fish and Game Code, relating to mountain lions. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 818, as amended, Alvarado-Gil. Mountain Lions: pilot human-mountain lion conflicts program: permitted houndspersons. scientific research: County of El Dorado. Proposition 117, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the June 5, 1990, statewide primary election, enacted the California Wildlife Protection Act of 1990. The act establishes that the mountain lion is a specially protected mammal under the laws of this state, and makes it unlawful to take, injure, possess, transport, import, or sell any mountain lion or any part or product thereof. The act authorizes the take of mountain lions under limited circumstances, including by authorizing the Department of Fish and Wildlife, or a specified appropriate local agency authorized by the department, to remove or take any mountain lion that is perceived to be an imminent threat to public health or safety or that is perceived by the department to be an imminent threat to the survival of certain sheep species. safety. Existing law permits the department, as the department determines is necessary to protect mountain lions or the public, to authorize qualified individuals, educational institutions, governmental agencies, or nongovernmental organizations to implement nonlethal procedures, which are defined as procedures that may include, among other things, capturing, pursuing, or hazing. Existing law permits the department to authorize qualified individuals, educational institutions, governmental agencies, or nongovernmental organizations to conduct scientific research involving mountain lions pursuant to a scientific collecting permit, as specified. This bill would require the department to, by January 1, 2027, establish a pilot program known as “Tree and Free” in the County of El Dorado in order to collect data on the efficacy of authorizing permitted private houndspersons to proactively haze mountain lions deemed to be a potential threat to public safety, livestock, or other domestic animal by the department, animal damage control officer, or local enforcement agency. The bill would require the program to be operative for 5 years from the date of commencement and, once concluded, would require the department to, no later than January 1, 2033, provide a report to the Legislature and the Fish and Game Commission on the efficacy the program and feasibility on expanding the program to other areas, as specified. The bill would require the department to collaborate with federal, state, and county trapping experts and interested nonprofit organizations in developing the criteria and procedure for registering authorized or permitted houndspersons. The bill would require houndspersons permitted and registered with the department to purchase an annual hazing permit for participation in the program, the cost of which shall be determined by the department, not to exceed the cost of implementing the pilot program. This bill would require the department to maintain, enhance, and expand its human-mountain lion conflicts program in the County of El Dorado in order to protect public health and safety, including by exercising its authority to authorize nonlethal procedures. The bill would require the department to develop and implement a grant program to assist eligible applicants to obtain, install, and maintain equipment and other measures in the County of El Dorado to protect livestock and domestic animals and minimize activities that attract mountain lions into communities. The bill would require the department to continue and expand its scientific research effort in the County of El Dorado to develop and evaluate methods to deter mountain lions from communities and to prevent habituation. In implementing these programs, the bill would require the department to engage in specified public outreach activities. The bill would authorize the department to expand these programs into regional programs, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032. The bill would require the department to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature on or before October 1, 2030, describing these programs, the results of the programs, the number of department personnel involved in the programs, and recommendations to further improve the programs to protect human health and safety. The bill would require the Director of Fish and Wildlife, until the 2033 calendar year, to appear on an annual basis at a hearing before one of specified committees of the Legislature to provide a status update on the programs. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for County of El Dorado. The California Wildlife Protection Act of 1990 prohibits the Legislature from changing the act, with specified exceptions, except by a 4 / 5 vote of the membership of both houses of the Legislature and then only if consistent with, and in furtherance of, the purposes of the act. This bill would declare that it is consistent with, and furthers the purposes of, that act. Digest Key Vote: FOUR_FIFTHS Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as Taylen and Wyatt’s Law. SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) During the 1971–72 Regular Session, Assembly Bill 660 was passed and signed into law, placing a four-year moratorium on the hunting of mountain lions. (b) At that time, there was great debate over the health of mountain lion populations, but the Department of Fish and Wildlife had no factual evidence on the health of the species. (c) At that time, the “popular” estimate of 600 mountain lions in the state had been in use since 1919, and was based on the formula of one mountain lion to each township of mountain lion habitat within California’s boundaries. (d) Assembly Bill 660 had two major project goals: first, the establishment of a population estimate for the mountain lion in California; and second, the production of a science-based mountain lion management plan based on life history information. (e) Assembly Bill 660 temporarily prohibited the lethal hunting of mountain lions, but it did not prohibit the Department of Fish and Wildlife from issuing permits for the nonlethal pursuit of the species by hound handlers with purpose-bred scent hounds, also known as houndspersons. (f) During this period, the depredation of livestock by mountain lions and human encounters with mountain lions was nearly nonexistent. (g) The temporary moratorium placed on mountain lion hunting by the passage of Assembly Bill 660 was extended several times due to assessing the mountain lion populations and developing the management plan proving to be more complex and time-consuming than originally anticipated. (h) Eighteen years later, although mountain lion populations were still considered stable and healthy by most biologists in our state, the species was designated as a “specially protected mammal” via the narrow passage of Proposition 117, an initiative measure approved by the electors at the June 5, 1990, statewide primary election. As the state wildlife laboratory noted in a published paper, this special protection was a “political designation, with no basis in population abundance or trend.” (i) The passage of Proposition 117 in 1990 prohibited the taking, injury, possession, or sale of mountain lion parts in California in perpetuity. By extension, Proposition 117 also banned the nonlethal pursuit and treeing of mountain lions with hounds. (j) For the first five years following the passage of Proposition 117, both mountain lion depredation on livestock and attacks on humans dramatically escalated, including two human fatalities. In response, the Department of Fish and Wildlife increased the issuance of lethal depredation permits, which diminished the rate of mountain lion encounters for the next 15 years. (k) On July 10, 2020, the Department of Fish and Wildlife implemented a “Statewide Mountain Lion Depredation Approach” that required the issuance of often multiple nonlethal depredation permits for a problem mountain lion before the issuance of a lethal depredation permit. Concomitant with this new depredation policy, attacks on humans again quickly escalated, including the midday fatal attack on a 21-year-old man in the County of El Dorado in March 2024. (l) The absence of houndspersons placing nonlethal pressure on mountain lions for the past 35 years has resulted in changes in their behavior. Traditionally nocturnal hunters and highly elusive, mountain lions now lack a fear of humans and domestic dogs, and are commonly sighted during the middle of the day, frequently around residential areas, resulting in substantially heightened public safety concerns and an exponential increase in the depredation of livestock and pets. (m) In the County of El Dorado, well over 200 domestic animals were killed by mountain lions in 2024 alone, and daytime mountain lion sightings are commonly occurring in every community on the western slope, including suburban neighborhoods and school yards. (n) In 2024, mountain lions were sighted on the campus of two of the three high schools on the County of El Dorado’s western slope. (o) The citizens and leadership of the County of El Dorado are doing everything possible to mitigate the remarkable increase in mountain lion activity and livestock loss by implementing all the traditional methods of deterring mountain lion conflict, including keeping livestock in fully fenced enclosures, bringing animals in at night, not leaving doors open so pets can go in and out at night, and the use of trained dogs, lights, and radios. Yet mountain lion encounters continue to escalate. (p) Recent peer-reviewed and published scientific studies have documented that preemptive or “proactive” pressure via nonlethal hound pursuit is the most effective method for hazing mountain lions and strongly reinforces their historic tendency to avoid humans and domestic dogs. (q) Current state policy on the issuance of depredation permits for dealing with problem mountain lions only allows hazing of mountain lions by government trappers after the first kill and typically requires multiple kills on the same parcel before issuing a lethal depredation permit. The implementation of this strict “after the damage is done” state policy has further escalated the changing mountain lion dynamics in the County of El Dorado, leading to the crisis county residents are currently experiencing. (r) In the County of El Dorado, the recent fatal human attack, combined with the ongoing increase in mountain lion sightings, their aggressive behavior, and daytime attacks on domestic animals and pets, is causing a swell of grief, anger, and fear throughout the public. (s) The County of El Dorado has become a hot spot for mountain lion encounters, and escalating public safety concerns require a special management strategy that is regionalized and tailored to address these unique circumstances. (t) Since the passage of Proposition 117, the lack of any preemptive, nonlethal pursuit of the species by houndspersons with scent hounds to restore mountain lion fear of humans and dogs has substantially promoted an upsurge in their willingness to confront humans, livestock, and pets, resulting in an increase in the legal, lethal taking of problem mountain lions via depredation permit, and likely the illegal removal of many more. (u) We must learn from the past, particularly during the 18 years in that California did not allow lethal-take mountain lion hunting, but did authorize permitted, experienced houndspersons with trained dogs to pursue, tree, and then release mountain lions. Reestablishing a fear of humans and dogs in mountain lions by reinstating their proactive, nonlethal pursuit by qualified and permitted houndspersons with hounds will substantially mitigate rapidly increasing public safety concerns, the loss of livestock and pets, and save the lives of countless mountain lions in the future. (a) The foothills of the Sierra Nevada, particularly in the County of El Dorado, are a “hot spot” for human-mountain lion conflicts. (b) In the County of El Dorado, residents reported over 200 domestic animals killed by mountain lions in 2024, and sightings of mountain lions during the day and on or near the campuses of two western slope high schools. Tragically, two young brothers were badly attacked, one fatally, by a juvenile male mountain lion while looking for shed antlers in the spring of 2024. (c) Multiple factors have been suggested as the cause of the increased human-mountain lion conflict, including recent nearby catastrophic wildfires, changes in deer population dynamics, the feeding of wildlife, fragmented habitat, and others. It may be that there is no single dominant cause. (d) To protect public health and safety, the Department of Fish and Wildlife expanded its efforts to work on wildlife response management. The Human-Wildlife Conflicts program’s vision is to proactively address human-wildlife conflicts and improve wildlife incident responses; to support safe human-wildlife interactions; and to increase understanding, awareness, and appreciation of wildlife in California. Due to funding challenges, these positions have not been maintained statewide. (e) The Department of Fish and Wildlife regional office serving the County of El Dorado was able to maintain personnel dedicated to human-wildlife conflicts last year at least temporarily despite the lack of specific funding. (f) The Department of Fish and Wildlife also has a research project underway in the County of El Dorado to develop improved strategies to reduce human-mountain lion conflicts. This project includes the hazing of mountain lions. (g) Due to voter approval of Proposition 117, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the June 5, 1990, statewide direct primary election, mountain lions are a specially protected species in the state, and cannot be hunted or otherwise subject to take. Depredation permits to kill mountain lions that are a risk to public health and safety are required to be issued. The owner of livestock who encounters a mountain lion pursuing, injuring, or killing livestock is authorized to immediately kill the mountain lion. Bills affecting the laws affecting mountain lions instituted by Proposition 117 may only be changed with a 4 / 5 vote of both houses of the Legislature and the Governor’s approval. Therefore, broad consensus is needed to amend the [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]