San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission: Suisun Marsh Preservation Act of 1977.

(1) Existing law sets forth a comprehensive plan for the conservation of the waters of the San Francisco Bay and the development of its shoreline and delegates to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission authority to implement the plan. Existing law requires any person or governmental agency wishing to place fill, to extract materials, or to make any substantial change in the use of any water, land, or structure within the shoreline and body of the bay to, among other things, secure a permit from the commission, which has authority to impose permit conditions and civilly enforce permit requirements, as prescribed. This bill would require, by the end of the 2020–21 fiscal year, that the commission create and implement a procedure to provide managerial review of staff decisions in enforcement cases, timelines for resolving enforcement cases, a penalty matrix for assessing fines and civil penalties, and a method for assessing civil penalties in cases involving multiple violations. (2) Existing law, the Suisun Marsh Preservation Act of 1977, sets forth a comprehensive plan for the preservation and protection of the Suisun Marsh. The act delegates to the commission the primary state responsibility for the implementation of the act, including review at least once every 5 years, of a certified local protection program for Suisun Marsh, as prescribed. If the commission determines that the certified local protection program, or any component of the program, is not being carried out in conformity with the act, existing law requires the commission to submit recommendations of corrective actions to certain local government entities, as specified. Existing law requires the affected local government entities to review the commission's recommendations and, if they do not take the commission's recommended actions within one year, to forward to the commission a report setting forth reasons for not taking the recommended actions, which the commission must then review and, where appropriate, report to the Legislature, as prescribed. This bill would require the commission to perform and complete the required review of the local protection program by no later than July 1, 2025, and to perform successive reviews under the act at least once every 5 years.