Habitat Conservation Fund.

Senators Blakespear and Stern, joined by Senator Allen and Assembly colleagues Connolly, Jeff Gonzalez, Hart, and Kalra, chart a path to extend the Habitat Conservation Fund’s funding framework through 2035, preserving its annual General Fund transfer and the set of ongoing allocations to the state agencies responsible for habitat protection, restoration, and related open-space work. The bill would maintain continuous appropriations to the designated agencies and sustain the fund’s core purposes—acquisition, restoration, and enhancement of wildlife habitat—while keeping the same general distribution framework among the recipient bodies through July 1, 2035. It also codifies specific allocation rules and geographic distribution requirements and expands the set of offset sources that support the transfers.

Under the bill, the General Fund would continue supplying a fixed annual transfer to the Habitat Conservation Fund, subject to offsets from a defined list of non-General Fund accounts and fund programs. The allocations would be: four and a half million dollars to the Department of Parks and Recreation for targeted Santa Lucia Range projects and related acquisitions plus local agency grants; four million dollars to the State Coastal Conservancy; five million dollars to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for a ten-year period with explicit regional expenditure targets within the Santa Monica Mountains Zone, Rim of the Valley Corridor, and Santa Clarita Woodlands; a half a million dollars to the California Tahoe Conservancy; and the remaining balance to the Wildlife Conservation Board. In addition, the bill specifies that up to two million dollars annually may be available to other state agencies for purposes consistent with the fund’s objectives. Administrative costs would be capped at one and a half percent, and expenditures would be organized in a cadence where approximately one-third of 24-month spending addresses acquisition-oriented purposes and about two-thirds supports habitat, open-space, and related activities, with roughly half of expenditures in northern California balanced by similar level in southern California.

Implementation relies on a controller-driven transfer process, with the fund’s dollars offset by targeted non-General Fund accounts that Congress and the executive branch have designated for compatible use. The bill preserves a prohibition on transfers from the Fish and Game Preservation Fund to the Habitat Conservation Fund, except as allowed by specific endowments, and it permits transfers from other non-General Fund sources and bond funds where aligned with the act’s purposes. The framework is designed to operate continuously, subject to the offsets and the framework’s timing, and it remains subject to future statutory action to extend beyond the current sunset. Agencies distributing and using the funds would follow the governing expenditure rules and the regional spending constraints, with oversight and reporting aligning to standard state budget processes.

The legislation sits within a broader policy context of maintaining dedicated, long-term investment in wildlife habitat protection, corridors, and access programs, while prioritizing regional balance and targeted geographic commitments. By codifying offsets and explicit allocation formulas, it provides a structured, if time-limited, mechanism for planning and partnership with local governments, land trusts, and regional agencies. The sunset and potential extension remain a key element for lawmakers, guiding how long the funding framework would operate without new authorization and prompting considerations about future budgetary and programmatic adjustments beyond 2035.