AB 2087 Summary

• Establishes a pilot program through January 1, 2020 authorizing the Department of Fish and Wildlife to approve regional conservation investment strategies that provide voluntary, nonbinding guidance for conservation actions and habitat enhancement to advance focal species protection.

• Requires strategies to be science-based, developed in consultation with local agencies, and include conservation goals, habitat protection plans, climate change adaptation measures, and consistency with existing conservation plans.

• Authorizes conservation actions and habitat enhancement actions that advance approved strategy objectives to generate mitigation credits usable to fulfill compensatory mitigation requirements under state and federal environmental laws, including California Endangered Species Act and California Environmental Quality Act.

• Creates mitigation credit agreements requiring department approval, with credits tied to performance-based milestones and ecological performance standards, allowing credits to be created, sold, or transferred only upon department approval.

• Limits the program to approval of no more than 8 regional conservation investment strategies before January 1, 2020, with all strategy approvals and mitigation credit agreements prohibited after that date.