Land use: mitigation lands: endowments

Endowments fund the long-term care of land set aside to offset development impacts. The law keeps the qualification, stewardship, and fund-protection framework in place without an expiration date.

What the law does ​

• Permanently authorizes qualified public entities, special districts, nonprofits, community foundations, and congressionally chartered foundations to hold mitigation endowments in specified circumstances.
• Requires endowment holders to manage, invest, account for, and spend funds solely for the long-term stewardship of the specific mitigation property.
• Retains certification requirements for holders’ financial-management capacity, prudent investment practices, accounting, and property-specific fund tracking.
• Requires mitigation agreements, except those prepared by a state agency, to provide for endowment funds to revert if a holder ceases operations, becomes insolvent, or mismanages funds.
• Requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife by July 1, 2030, and every five years thereafter, to publish online status tables for endowments it oversees or requires through permitting.
• Requires each Department of Fish and Wildlife table to identify the holder, county, managed acreage, and whether required annual reports were timely filed.

Who it affects ​

• Public agencies, special districts, nonprofits, community foundations, and congressionally chartered foundations that hold mitigation endowments.
• Project proponents and land or conservation-easement holders establishing mitigation funding arrangements.
• State and local agencies that require mitigation as a condition of approvals.
• The Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Context ​

The first Department of Fish and Wildlife table covers January 1, 2027, through December 31, 2029.