HB 2473 Summary

• Authorizes the Department of Land and Natural Resources to establish and operate conservation bank and conservation in-lieu fee mitigation programs for restoring, creating, enhancing, or preserving habitats of threatened, endangered, candidate, proposed, or indigenous species.

• Allows the department to require persons or entities to complete compensatory mitigation to offset environmental losses caused by past damages to indigenous species or their habitats.

• Establishes that conservation banks must be protected in perpetuity under site protection instruments, approved by the board, and include financial assurances such as endowment funds for long-term stewardship.

• Requires conservation in-lieu fee mitigation programs to be operated only by qualified government agencies or nongovernmental organizations, with sponsors responsible for all conservation work and able to sell credits to entities required to provide mitigation.

• Mandates that the endangered species recovery committee review and make annual recommendations for conservation bank and in-lieu fee mitigation programs; exempts aquatic life and habitats from program requirements.