BILL NUMBER: SB 22	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  3
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  APRIL 7, 2003
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  APRIL 7, 2003
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  APRIL 7, 2003
	PASSED THE SENATE  JANUARY 30, 2003
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JANUARY 21, 2003

INTRODUCED BY   Senators Sher and Burton
   (Coauthor:  Senator Ducheny)

                        DECEMBER 2, 2002

   An act to repeal Sections 5 and 8 of Chapter 1154 of the Statutes
of 2002, relating to mining, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 22, Sher.  Surface mining and reclamation.
   The existing Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 prohibits
a person from conducting surface mining operations without obtaining
a permit from the lead agency for those operations, and submitting
and receiving approval for a reclamation plan and financial
assurances from the lead agency.
   Under existing law, on and after January 1, 2003, certain
requirements apply to a lead agency, but these requirements are not
operative unless SB 1828 is enacted and becomes effective on or
before January 1, 2003.  These requirements prohibit a lead agency
from approving a reclamation plan and financial assurances for a
surface mining operation for gold, silver, copper, or other metallic
minerals that is located on, or within one mile of, any Native
American sacred site, as defined, and in an area of special concern,
as defined, unless the reclamation plan requires that all excavation
be backfilled and graded to achieve the approximate original contours
of the mined lands prior to mining, and the financial assurances are
sufficient in amount to provide for the backfilling and grading.
   Any surface mining operation in existence on January 1, 2003, for
which the lead agency has issued final approval of a reclamation plan
and the financial assurances prior to September 1, 2002, and any
amended reclamation plan or financial assurances that are necessary
for the continued operation or expansion of a surface mining
operation in existence on January 1, 2003, as specified, would be
exempt from those requirements.  The requirements also would extend
the time for the Director of Conservation to remediate or complete
reclamation of abandoned mined lands from January 1, 2003, to January
1, 2007, and require the director, not later than January 1 of each
year, to report to the Legislature on any abandoned mine remediation
projects that are proposed for the following year.
   This bill would repeal the provision making the operation of those
changes contingent on the enactment of SB 1828 on or before January
1, 2003.  By repealing the contingent operation of those provisions,
the bill would make operative all of the changes specified above.
The bill would provide that those changes are operative on the
effective date of this bill.  The bill would make a related change.
   The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 5 of Chapter 1154 of the Statutes of 2002 is
repealed.
  SEC. 2.  Section 8 of Chapter 1154 of the Statutes of 2002 is
repealed.
  SEC. 3.  Chapter 1154 of the Statutes of 2002 is operative upon the
effective date of this act.
  SEC. 4.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   To prevent the imminent destruction of important Native American
sacred sites threatened by proposed strip mining and to ensure these
mining activities are adequately mitigated through implementation of
new state reclamation requirements at the earliest opportunity, it is
necessary that this act take effect immediately.