BILL NUMBER: SB 960 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 21, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 29, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Senator Simitian
FEBRUARY 22, 2005
An act relating to tidelands and submerged lands of the City of
Santa Cruz.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 960, as amended, Simitian. Tidelands: exchange: City of Santa
Cruz.
Existing law grants to the City of Santa Cruz all the right,
title, and interest of the State of California in and to certain
tidelands and submerged lands in trust for certain purposes.
This bill would authorize the City of Santa Cruz, with the
approval of the California State Lands Commission, to enter into a
land exchange agreement, as a part of a settlement of a title dispute
regarding the ownership of tidelands and submerged lands, as long as
the tide and submerged land to be exchanged meets certain
conditions, as specified.
The bill would authorize a party to the land exchange agreement to
bring an action to quiet title within 90 days after the recording of
the agreement.
The bill would also authorize a person who is not a party to the
land exchange agreement to bring an action challenging the validity
of the agreement within 180 days after the recording of the
agreement.
This bill would declare that, due to the unique circumstances
pertaining to the tide and submerged lands described in the bill, a
general statute within the meaning of specific provision of the
California Constitution cannot be made applicable and a special
statute is necessary.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. As used in this act, the following definitions apply:
(a) "City" means the City of Santa Cruz, a municipal corporation
of the State of California, in Santa Cruz County.
(b) "Commission" means the California State Lands Commission.
(c) "Exchange area" means those portions of the lands granted
by the legislative grants to the City of Santa Cruz that lie
westerly of the east bank of the San Lorenzo River and easterly
of Point Santa Cruz.
(d) "Legislative grants" means those certain
grants of salt marsh, tidelands, and submerged lands to the city as
found in Chapter 342 of the Statutes of 1872 and Chapter 1291 of the
Statutes of 1969.
(d)
(e) "Person" means an individual, entity,
corporation, state agency, political subdivision, the United States,
or any agency thereof.
(e)
(f) "Public trust" means the public trust
for commerce, navigation, and fisheries, water-oriented recreation,
and preservation of land in a natural state.
SEC. 2. (a) Subject to the requirements for approval by the
commission specified in subdivision (b), whenever there is a title
dispute regarding the ownership of tide and submerged lands within
the legislative grants exchange area
and it is determined by the city that any portions of the tide or
submerged lands within the exchange area granted to the
city by the legislative grants have been filled and reclaimed, cut
off from access to the waters of the Pacific Ocean, Monterey Bay, or
the San Lorenzo River, constitute a relatively small portion of the
tide and submerged lands granted to the city, and are no longer
needed or required for the promotion of the public trust and the
legislative grants, and that there will not be a substantial
interference with public trust uses and uses under the legislative
grants, the city may, as a part of a settlement of ownership issues,
terminate the public trust and the terms and conditions of the
legislative grants over those portions of the tide and submerged
lands and exchange those portions of the tide and submerged lands, or
any interest in those lands, with a person for lands or interests in
lands of equal or greater value, provided that those lands or
interests in lands are confirmed as lands subject to the public trust
and to the terms and conditions of the legislative grants.
(b) An exchange and trust termination under subdivision (a) shall
not be effective until the commission, at a regular or special
meeting with the proposed exchange and trust termination as a
scheduled agenda item, does both of the following:
(1) Finds that the lands or interests in lands to be acquired by
the city and the value of the public trust interest to be confirmed
or acquired through the exchange and trust termination are of a value
equal to or greater than the value of the tide and submerged lands
for which they are to be exchanged and the value of the tide and
submerged lands over which the public trust and the terms and
conditions of the legislative grants will be terminated. In making
this finding, the commission, and the city acting pursuant to this
section may consider the facts, law, and equities bearing upon the
title dispute regarding the tide and submerged lands involved.
(2) Adopts a resolution approving the proposed exchange and trust
termination, which finds and declares that the tide and submerged
lands to be exchanged and over which the public trust and the terms
and conditions of the legislative grants will be terminated have been
filled and reclaimed, are cut off from access to the waters of the
Pacific Ocean, Monterey Bay, or the San Lorenzo River, constitute a
relatively small portion of the tide and submerged lands granted to
the city, and are no longer needed or required for the promotion of
the public trust and the legislative grants; and that there will not
be a substantial interference with the public trust uses and purposes
that will ensue by virtue of the exchange of the trust lands and the
trust termination. As to any such exchange and trust termination,
upon the close of escrow, the tide and submerged lands to be
exchanged and with respect to which the public trust and the terms
and conditions of the legislative grants are to be terminated shall
thereupon be free from the public trust and the terms and conditions
of the legislative grants.
(c) Any lands or interests in lands acquired or confirmed as
public trust lands shall, upon completion of the exchange and trust
termination and recording of its implementing conveyances, thereafter
be held by the city as lands subject to the public trust and to the
terms and conditions of the legislative grants.
(d) The provisions of this act are not exclusive with respect to
the settlement or litigation of titles and boundaries of lands within
lands granted to the city by the legislative grants.
(e) The precise boundaries of the lands to be taken out of the
public trust and the lands to be put into the trust or confirmed as
public trust lands pursuant to an exchange or settlement under this
section shall be determined by the city, subject to the approval of
the commission.
SEC. 3. The city, with the approval of the commission, may settle
by agreement with any person, any disputes as to the location of the
ordinary high or ordinary low water mark, the boundaries of tidelands
conveyed into private ownership pursuant to various statutes, and
any other boundary lines within or along lands subject to
the legislative grants the exchange area as the
city and commission deem necessary.
SEC. 4. For purposes of effectuating the exchange or trust
termination authorized by this act, the commission may do all of the
following:
(a) Receive and accept on behalf of the state any lands or
interest in lands conveyed to the state by the trustee, including
lands that are now and that will remain subject to the public trust.
(b) Convey by patent all of the right, title, and interest of the
state in lands that are to be free of the public trust upon
completion of an exchange of lands as authorized by this act and as
approved by the commission.
(c) Convey to the trustee by patent all of the right, title, and
interest of the state in lands that are to be subject to the public
trust and the terms of this act upon completion of an exchange of
lands as authorized by this act and as approved by the commission,
subject to the terms, conditions, and reservations as the commission
may determine are necessary to meet the requirements of this act.
SEC. 5. (a) Any party to an exchange and trust termination
agreement or a boundary line agreement entered into pursuant to this
act may bring an action under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section
760.010) of Title 10 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure to
quiet title and to confirm the validity of that agreement as if the
agreement had been entered into pursuant to Section 6307 or 6357 of
the Public Resources Code. No action shall be brought later than 90
days after the recording of the executed agreement.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 764.080 of the Code
of Civil Procedure, a person not a party to an exchange and trust
termination agreement or to a boundary line agreement entered into
pursuant to this act seeking to bring an action challenging the
validity of the agreement, shall file that action no later than 180
days after the recording of the executed agreement.
(c) Any exchange and trust termination agreement or boundary line
agreement entered into pursuant to this act shall be conclusively
presumed to be valid, unless held invalid in an appropriate
proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction commenced within the
time limits specified in this section.
SEC. 6. The Legislature finds and declares that, because of the
unique circumstances applicable only to the tide and submerged lands
described in this act, a statute of general applicability cannot be
enacted within the meaning of subdivision (b) of Section 16 of
Article IV of the California Constitution. Therefore, this special
statute is necessary.