AB 388

This bill exempts from wetland permitting requirements a discharge of dredged

or fill material into an artificial wetland.

Current law requires the Department of Natural Resources to issue wetland

general permits for discharges of dredged or fill material into certain wetlands.

Current law allows DNR to establish different requirements, conditions, and

exceptions in general permits to ensure that the discharges will cause only minimal

adverse environmental effects. A person who wishes to proceed with a discharge that

is covered by a general permit must notify DNR. If DNR does not request additional

information or notify the person that an individual permit will be required within 30

days after receipt of the notification, the person may proceed with the discharge.

Current law also authorizes DNR to require a person to apply for and obtain a

wetland individual permit if DNR determines that conditions specific to the site

require additional restrictions on the discharge in order to provide reasonable

assurance that no significant adverse impacts to wetland functional values will

occur. Also under current law, before DNR may issue a wetland individual permit,

it must require the restoration, enhancement, creation, or preservation of other

wetlands to compensate for adverse impacts to a wetland resulting from the

discharge, also known as mitigation.

Under current rules promulgated by DNR, certain artificial wetlands are

exempt from the wetland permitting requirements unless DNR determines that

significant functional values are present. This bill exempts from these permitting

requirements a discharge to any artificial wetland. The bill defines an artificial

wetland as a wetland inadvertently created by human modifications to the landscape

or hydrology and for which there is no prior wetland or stream history, but excludes

from the definition a wetland that is subject to federal jurisdiction and a wetland that

serves as a fish spawning area or a passage to a fish spawning area.