(a) The Fisheries Restoration Account is hereby created in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. The moneys in the Fisheries Restoration Account are hereby appropriated to the department for expenditure in fiscal years 1991–92 to 1993–94, inclusive, pursuant to subdivision (b).

(b)  The moneys in the Fisheries Restoration Account may be expended for the construction, operation, and administration of projects designated in the plan developed by the department in accordance with the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries Program Act (Ch. 8 (commencing with Sec. 6900), Pt. 1, Div. 6), and projects designed to restore and maintain fishery resources and their habitat that have been damaged by past water diversions and projects and other development activities. Expenditures shall not be authorized for a project to be funded under this subdivision before a date which is 30 days after the department has furnished a copy of the proposal for the project to be funded, together with supporting descriptions, to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture and to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. These projects shall have as their primary objective the restoration of fishery resources identified in the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries Program Act. Projects may include, but shall not be limited to, watershed assessments, fisheries restoration planning, acquisition of lands, restoration of habitat, restoration or creation of spawning areas, construction of fish screens or fish ladders, stream rehabilitation, and installation of pollution control facilities. Projects for restoration or creation of spawning areas shall utilize natural spawning rather than hatcheries to the extent possible.

Under no circumstances shall any water project be absolved under this subdivision of any mitigation requirements which are placed upon it under existing law.

No land shall be acquired pursuant to this chapter by eminent domain proceedings.

(c) Priority for funding shall be given to projects that employ fishermen, fish processing workers, and others who are unemployed or underemployed due to the elimination of a commercial fishing season as a result of restrictions imposed by federal regulations. This priority shall remain in effect only as long as those restrictions are in force.

(d) Expenditures shall not be authorized for multiyear projects funded under subdivision (b) before a date which is 30 days after the department has submitted an annual progress report on the project and a copy of the work schedule for subsequent year funding of the project to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture and to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

(e) The department shall conduct a preproject and postproject evaluation on each project recommended in the plan and program developed by the department in accordance with the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries Program Act for which money has been appropriated from the Fisheries Restoration Account.

(f) The department may expend not more than 5 percent of the funds annually appropriated from the Fisheries Restoration Account for the administration of projects.

(g) The department may contract for services for the purpose of conducting a preproject and postproject evaluation or for the administration of projects.

(h) The department shall, during the last fiscal year of funding, conduct a review of all previous and ongoing projects to determine if the elements of the plan and program developed by the department pursuant to the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries Program Act are being met, including the goal of doubling the 1988 population of salmon and steelhead trout, as declared in Section 6902.

(Amended by Stats. 1993, Ch. 617, Sec. 3. Effective October 1, 1993.)