(a) The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency shall convene a committee to develop and submit to the Governor and the Legislature, before July 1, 2012, a strategic vision for the Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Game Commission.

(b) The committee members shall include all of the following:

(1) The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency.

(2) The Director of Fish and Game.

(3) The president of the Fish and Game Commission.

(4) The chair of the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission.

(5) A representative of the University of California.

(6) Representatives of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, if they choose to participate.

(c) The strategic vision shall address all of the following matters:

(1) Improving and enhancing capacity of the department and the commission to fulfill their public trust responsibilities to protect and manage the state’s fish and wildlife for their ecological values and for the use and benefit of the people of the state.

(2) Comprehensive biodiversity management, including conservation planning and monitoring.

(3) Sustainable ecosystem functions, including terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitat.

(4) Opportunities for sustainable recreational and commercial harvest of fish and wildlife.

(5) Permitting, regulatory, and enforcement functions.

(6) Science capacity and academic relationships, including strategies to protect and enhance the independence and integrity of the science that forms the basis for department and commission policies and decisions.

(7) Education, communication, and relations with the public, landowners, nonprofit entities, and land management agencies.

(8) Reforms necessary to take on the challenges of the 21st century, including, but not necessarily limited to:

(A) Climate change and adaptation.

(B) Meeting California’s future renewable energy needs while protecting sensitive habitat.

(C) The restoration of the state’s native fish species.

(D) Implementing and updating the state’s Wildlife Action Plan.

(9) The development and deployment of technology to meet the department’s mission, including data modeling, collection, and online reporting.

(10) Budget and fiscal development, accounting, and management.

(11) Coordination among state agencies.

(12) Recommendations for institutional or governance changes, including clarification of the roles of the commission and the department.

(13) Strategies for identifying stable funding options to fulfill the mission of the department while reducing dependency on the General Fund.

(14) Other recommendations deemed desirable by the committee.

(d) The committee shall seek input from elected officials, governmental agencies, and interested parties, and shall review existing reports and studies on the functioning of the department and other state models for fish and wildlife governance.

(e) For the purposes of carrying out this section, the committee may also seek input from other policy and resource leaders.

(f) (1) The committee, its members, and state agencies represented on the committee may contract for consultants to assist in the preparation of the strategic vision.

(2) Contracts entered into pursuant to paragraph (1) shall terminate no later than December 31, 2011.

(3) Contracts entered into pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be exempt from Part 2 (commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code.

(g) The Governor or the committee shall appoint a “blue ribbon” citizen commission or task force, a stakeholder advisory group, and any other group that the Governor or the committee deems necessary or desirable to assist in carrying out this section. A stakeholder advisory group appointed pursuant to this section shall be broadly constructed to represent a diverse range of interests affected by state policies that govern fish and wildlife, including, but not necessarily limited to, persons representing fishing and hunting interests, nonprofit conservation organizations, nonconsumptive recreational users, landowners, scientific and educational interests, and other interests or entities dedicated to habitat conservation and protection of public trust resources. The committee convened pursuant to subdivision (a), in developing the strategic vision, shall take into account the recommendations of any group appointed pursuant to this subdivision.

(h) (1) The requirement for submitting the strategic vision imposed under subdivision (a) is inoperative on January 1, 2015, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, or on the date that the strategic vision is submitted, whichever date is later.

(2) The strategic vision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

(Added by Stats. 2010, Ch. 424, Sec. 1. (AB 2376) Effective January 1, 2011.)