BILL NUMBER: SB 1844 CHAPTERED 07/12/06 CHAPTER 68 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 12, 2006 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JULY 12, 2006 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JUNE 26, 2006 PASSED THE SENATE MAY 4, 2006 INTRODUCED BY Committee on Natural Resources and Water (Senators Kuehl (chair), Aanestad, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Machado, Margett, and Migden) MARCH 7, 2006 An act to amend Sections 5093.35, 5625, 6331.5, 9952, and 13116.5 of the Public Resources Code, relating to public resources. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1844, Committee on Natural Resources and Water Public resources. (1) The California Wilderness Act requires that a certain government official and a certain state agency review, on or before January 1, 1976, and January 1, 1978, state-owned roadless areas under their jurisdiction, and report to the Legislature their recommendations as to the suitability or nonsuitability of those areas for preservation as state wilderness. This bill would delete the dates by which the reviews are to be completed and the reports to the Legislature are to be made as obsolete provisions. (2) Existing law requires the Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation to propose criteria for determining priority of need, for annual grants to certain local agencies, for open space and recreation purposes, hold public hearings, and submit the proposed criteria to the Legislature on or before November 30,1976. This bill would delete the date by which the director is to submit the proposed criteria to the Legislature because it is an obsolete provision. (3) Existing law requires the State Lands Commission to survey all ungranted tidelands, to evaluate each survey, and adopt boundary descriptions already in common use, as specified. Existing law requires the inventory and evaluation to commence on January 1, 1976, and be completed on or before December 31, 1981. This bill would delete the dates as to when the inventory and evaluation is to commence and be completed. (4) Existing law requires the initial members of the Tahoe Resource Conservation District meet specified criteria, including that their terms expire in November 1976 and 1978. This bill would delete those obsolete provisions. (5) Existing law authorizes an action to determine the validity of Resort Improvement District bonds, pursuant to specified law. Existing law became operative only if a certain bill was enacted by the Legislature, as required. This bill would delete the provisions making the operation of existing law contingent upon the enactment of a bill at the 1961 Regular Session of the Legislature because it is obsolete. (6) This bill would make conforming changes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 5093.35 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 5093.35. (a) The secretary, in cooperation with each department within the Resources Agency, shall review state-owned roadless areas under his or her jurisdiction as of January 1, 1975, including, but not limited to, lands within the state park system, state forests, and fish and game refuges, reserves, sanctuaries, and other areas designated for the protection of wildlife, but not including tide and submerged lands lying below the mean high tide line, and shall report to the Legislature his or her recommendations as to the suitability or nonsuitability of each area for preservation as state wilderness. (b) The State Lands Commission shall review state-owned roadless areas under its jurisdiction that have been identified as possessing significant environmental values pursuant to Section 6370.2, and shall report to the Legislature its recommendations as to the suitability or nonsuitability of each area for preservation as wilderness. (c) Additional reviews and reports as to suitability or nonsuitability for preservation as wilderness shall be made by the secretary and the State Lands Commission for the following areas: (1) State-owned roadless areas under their respective jurisdictions and within or contiguous to federal wilderness areas designated by the Congress after January 1, 1975, within one year after the designation. (2) State-owned roadless areas under their respective jurisdictions that are acquired after January 1, 1975, within three years of the acquisition. (d) The secretary and the State Lands Commission, prior to submitting recommendations with respect to the suitability of an area for preservation as a wilderness area, shall: (1) Give public notice of the proposed action as deemed appropriate, including publication in one or more newspapers of general circulation in each county within which the affected area is located, and mailed to every person who has filed a request for notice of hearing. If the notice of hearing is published in a weekly newspaper, it must appear therein on at least two different days of publication, and, if in a newspaper published more often, there must be at least five days from the first to the last day of publication, both days included. The content of the notice of hearing shall substantially comply with the requirements of Section 11346.5 of the Government Code. (2) Hold a public hearing or hearings in the City of San Diego, City of Los Angeles, City and County of San Francisco, or City of Sacramento, whichever is closest to the area affected, not less than 30 days, nor more than 60 days, after the last date of publication of the notice. The hearing shall be conducted in the manner specified in Section 11346.8 of the Government Code. (3) Advise, at least 30 days before the date of a hearing, the board of supervisors of each county where the lands are located, and federal, state, and local agencies concerned, and invite those officials and agencies to submit their views on the proposed action at the hearing or within a specified period thereafter. (e) A view submitted under the provisions of subdivision (d) with respect to an area shall be included with recommendations to the Legislature with respect to that area. (f) A modification or adjustment of boundaries of a wilderness area designated by the Legislature shall be recommended to the Legislature by the secretary or the State Lands Commission after public notice of the proposal and public hearing or hearings as provided in subdivision (d). (g) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to lessen the present statutory authority of a state agency with respect to the maintenance of roadless areas. (h) Privately owned areas within or contiguous to state-owned areas shall not preclude the review of the state-owned areas as provided in this section. SEC. 2. Section 5625 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 5625. (a) Annual grants shall be made to cities, counties, and districts for recreational purposes, open-space purposes, or both, on the basis of population and need, as specified in this chapter. The director shall, by regulation, specify the procedures to be followed in applying for grant funds. The director shall propose criteria for determining priority of need, conduct public hearings on those proposed criteria, and, following the hearings, shall submit the proposed criteria to the Legislature for its approval by statute within 60 days of submission of the criteria. A new, revised, or amended criterion or a criterion to be deleted shall be submitted to the Legislature for its approval by statute. Following legislative approval, the director shall establish the criteria and publish them in the California Code of Regulations. The criteria, and a change thereof, shall be distributed in a convenient form to potential applicants. (b) The director shall, by regulation, require the recipient of a grant under this chapter to submit periodic reports to the department with respect to its use of the grant, but the reports shall not be required to be submitted more frequently than annually. (c) All projects and programs for which a grant is received shall be subject to state audit. SEC. 3. Section 6331.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 6331.5. The commission shall make an inventory to ascertain and describe by metes and bounds the location and extent of all ungranted tidelands. The commission shall, in a local agency where the ungranted tideland boundary is described by metes and bounds, acquire and evaluate the existing boundary description to determine whether or not additional surveys should be conducted. When available, the local agency shall provide copies of the descriptions, together with all materials supporting the descriptions, including field notes and other basic data, to the commission at no cost, other than the reproduction cost, to the state. No appropriation is made by the act adding this section, nor is an obligation created thereby, for the reimbursement of a local agency for costs, other than reproduction costs, that may be incurred by it in carrying on a program or performing a service required to be carried on or performed by it by this section. Reimbursements for reproduction expenditures shall be made by the commission from appropriations to the commission for the preparation of the inventory. The commission shall evaluate each survey and shall adopt boundary descriptions already in common use where these metes and bounds descriptions approximate the existing line of ordinary high water where it is in a state of nature, or where the descriptions approximate the last position occupied in a state of nature by the line of ordinary high water in areas where the existing shoreline has ceased to be in a state of nature, and where sound engineering practices were used to conduct the survey. If metes and bounds descriptions of tideland boundaries are not available, or if the surveys do not describe the tideland boundary in a state of nature as hereinbefore defined, or if unsound engineering practices were used to describe a tideland boundary, the commission may conduct its own survey. Unless otherwise provided by law, prior to undertaking a survey on ungranted tidelands, the commission shall prepare an inventory of those ungranted tidelands that will require a commission survey and shall submit a report of its findings to the Legislature. The report shall contain a geographic identification of the ungranted tidelands that will require a survey, a plan establishing priorities for the orderly conduct of the needed surveys, and an estimate of the cost needed to complete the surveys. SEC. 4. Section 9952 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 9952. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the organization and functions of the Tahoe Resource Conservation District shall be governed by the provisions of this division. (b) The initial Board of Directors of the Tahoe Resource Conservation District shall be composed of the following five persons who shall each be an owner of land within the area described in Section 9951: (1) One person appointed by the California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency who may be a member of that agency. (2) One person appointed by the City of South Lake Tahoe. (3) One person appointed by the Board of Supervisors of El Dorado County. (4) Two persons appointed by the Board of Supervisors of Placer County. (c) Successors to the members of the initial board of directors shall be elected at a general resource conservation district election in accordance with this division. (d) Moneys received by a resource conservation district pursuant to Section 9505 on lands transferred to the Tahoe Resource Conservation District shall be transferred to the Tahoe Resource Conservation District, and all costs of establishing the Tahoe Resource Conservation District shall be a first charge on those funds. The Board of Directors of the Tahoe Resource Conservation District shall determine whether the treasury of Placer County or of El Dorado County shall be the depository of the funds of the Tahoe Resource Conservation District for the purposes of Article 2 (commencing with Section 9521) of Chapter 4. SEC. 5. Section 13116.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 13116.5. An action to determine the validity of bonds may be brought pursuant to Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 860) of Title 10 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure.