BILL NUMBER: AB 1950 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Lieu
FEBRUARY 13, 2008
An act to amend Sections 522, 525, and 526 of the Harbors and
Navigation Code, relating to vessels.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1950, as introduced, Lieu. Vessels: abandonment: abatement.
(1) Existing law authorizes the sale of a hulk, derelict, wreck,
or parts of a ship, vessel, or other watercraft sunk, beached, or
allowed to remain in an unseaworthy or dilapidated condition upon
publicly owned submerged lands, salt marsh, or tidelands within
corporate limits of a municipal corporation or other public
corporation or entity having jurisdiction or control over those
lands, without its consent, for a period longer than 30 days without
a watchman or other person in charge of the property.
This bill would also authorize the sale of a surrendered vessel,
as defined, under those provisions.
(2) Existing law makes it an infraction with a minimum $500 fine
and maximum $3,000 fine for a person to abandon a vessel upon a
public waterway or public or private property without the express or
implied consent of the owner or person in lawful possession or
control of the property, except for the urgent and immediate concern
for the safety of those aboard the vessel. Existing law provides that
80% of the money collected as fines shall be deposited in the
Abandoned Watercraft Abatement Fund, a special fund. Upon
appropriation by the Legislature, money in the fund may be used for
grants to be awarded by the Department of Boating and Waterways to
local agencies for the abatement and removal of abandoned, wrecked,
and dismantled vessels, or parts of those vessels.
This bill would increase the minimum fine to $1,000. The bill
would also allow that money in the fund to be used for the abatement
and removal of a surrendered vessel, hulk, derelict, wreck, or parts
of any ship, or other watercraft sunk, beached, or allowed to remain
in an unseaworthy or dilapidated condition upon municipal or other
public corporation property.
(3) Existing law authorizes wrecked property that is an
unseaworthy derelict or hulk, or abandoned property removed from a
navigable waterway, as specified, to be sold or otherwise disposed of
by the public agency that removed or caused the removal of the
property, subject to certain conditions, including that the property
has been appraised by disinterested persons, and has an estimated
value of less than $2,000.
This bill would except from those provisions a surrendered vessel,
as defined, and allow that vessel to be disposed of immediately upon
acceptance by a public agency.
(4) The bill would make related changes.
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. Section 522 of the Harbors and Navigation Code is
amended to read:
522. (a) Any (1) A
surrendered vessel, hulk, derelict, wreck, or parts of
any a ship, vessel, or other watercraft sunk,
beached, or allowed to remain in an unseaworthy or dilapidated
condition upon publicly owned submerged lands, salt marsh, or
tidelands within the corporate limits of any
a municipal corporation or other public corporation or entity
having jurisdiction or control over those lands, without its consent
expressed by resolution of its legislative body, for a period longer
than 30 days without a watchman or other person being maintained upon
or near and in charge of the property, is abandoned property.
Thereafter, that
(2) The municipal corporation or
other public corporation or entity may, notwithstanding any other
provision of law, take title to the abandoned property for purposes
of abatement without satisfying any property tax lien on that
property, and also may cause the property to be sold, destroyed, or
otherwise disposed of in any manner it determines is expedient or
convenient. Any property tax lien on the abandoned property shall be
satisfied within 30 days following the sale of the abandoned property
by a municipal corporation or public entity. Any
A sale in accordance with this section shall vest complete
title in the purchaser who shall forthwith
without delay take steps to remove the property. Any
proceeds Proceeds derived from the sale shall be
transmitted to the Treasurer for deposit in the General Fund.
(3) For the purposes of this section, "surrendered vessel" means a
vessel that the verified title holder has willingly surrendered to a
willing public agency under both of the following conditions:
(A) The public agency has determined, in its sole discretion, that
the vessel is in danger of being abandoned, and therefore has a
likelihood of causing environmental degradation or becoming a hazard
to navigation.
(B) The decision to accept a vessel is based solely on the
potential of the vessel to likely be abandoned and cause
environmental degradation or become a hazard to navigation.
(4) A surrendered vessel shall be considered abandoned property
immediately upon being accepted by a willing public agency.
(b) However Notwithstanding subdivision
(a) , if the owner of the property securely affixes to the
property a notice in plain view setting forth the owner's name and
address and claim of ownership, together with the name and address of
an agent or representative whom the owner may designate to act
within the State of California state if
the owner does not reside in the state, and files a copy of the
notice with the secretary of the municipal corporation or other
public corporation or entity having jurisdiction or control over the
lands at least 10 days prior to the removal, the municipal
corporation or other public corporation or entity may not sell,
destroy, or otherwise dispose of the property until the corporation
or entity has first given the owner or the owner's agent, at the
address specified in the claim of ownership, 15 days' notice to
remove or cause the property to be removed, and then only if the
property is not removed by the owner or the owner's agent within that
time or reasonable extensions of time as the corporation or entity
may grant by resolution. If a registration number appears on the
watercraft, the municipal corporation or other public corporation or
entity shall send the notice to the last registered owner and the
disposition shall be handled as a lien sale under Section 504.
(c) Any A municipal
corporation or other public corporation may charge a fee to
any a person who is determined by that municipal
or other public corporation to have caused property of a type
described in subdivision (a) to become abandoned as described in that
subdivision within its corporate limits, in an amount not to exceed
the amount of that municipal or other public corporation's actual and
reasonable costs incurred pursuant to this section with respect to
the abandoned property.
SEC. 2. Section 525 of the Harbors and Navigation Code is amended
to read:
525. (a) Except for the urgent and immediate concern
for the safety of those aboard a vessel, no a
person shall not abandon a vessel upon a public
waterway or public or private property without the express or implied
consent of the owner or person in lawful possession or control of
the property.
(b) The abandonment of any a vessel
in a manner as provided in subdivision (a) is prima facie evidence
that the last registered owner of record, not having notified the
appropriate registration or documenting agency of any relinquishment
of title or interest therein, is responsible for the abandonment and
is thereby liable for the cost of the removal and
disposition of the vessel.
(c) Violation A violation of this
section is an infraction and shall be punished by a fine of not less
than five hundred dollars ($500) one thousand
dollars ($1,000) , nor more than three thousand dollars
($3,000). In addition, the court may order the defendant to pay to
the agency that removes and disposes of the vessel the actual costs
incurred by the agency for that removal and disposition.
(d) All fines Fines
imposed and collected pursuant to this section shall be allocated as
follows:
(1) (A) Eighty percent of the moneys shall be deposited in the
Abandoned Watercraft Abatement Fund, which is hereby created as a
special fund. Moneys in the fund shall be used exclusively, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, for grants to be awarded by the
department to local agencies for the abatement, removal, storage, and
disposal as public nuisances of any abandoned property as
described in Section 522 , wrecked , or
dismantled vessels, or parts thereof, or any other partially
submerged objects which that pose a
substantial hazard to navigation, from navigable waterways or
adjacent public property, or private property with the landowner's
consent. These grants shall not be utilized for abatement, removal,
storage, or disposal of commercial vessels.
(B) In evaluating a grant request submitted by a local agency
pursuant to subparagraph (A), the department shall place great weight
on the following two factors:
(i) The existence of an active local enforcement program to
control and prevent the abandonment of watercraft within the local
agency's jurisdiction.
(ii) The existence of a submerged navigational hazard abatement
plan at the local level which that
provides for the control or abatement of water hazards, including,
but not limited to, abandoned watercraft, wrecked watercraft,
hazardous floating debris, submerged vessels and objects, and
abandoned piers and pilings.
(C) A grant awarded by the department pursuant to subparagraph (A)
shall be matched by a 10-percent contribution from the local agency
receiving the grant.
(2) Twenty percent shall be allocated as set forth in Section
1463.001 of the Penal Code.
SEC. 3. Section 526 of the Harbors and Navigation Code is amended
to read:
526. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any wrecked
property that is an unseaworthy derelict or hulk, or
abandoned property as described in Section 522, or property
removed from a navigable waterway pursuant to Section 523 or 524
that is an unseaworthy derelict or hulk, may be sold or otherwise
disposed of by the public agency that removed or caused the removal
of the property pursuant to this section, subject to the following
conditions , except a surrendered vessel, as defined in Section
522, may be disposed of immediately upon acceptance by a public
agency and is not subject to the following conditions :
(1) The property has been appraised by disinterested persons, and
has an estimated value of less than two thousand dollars ($2,000).
(2) There is no discernable registration, license, hull
identification number, or other identifying insignia on the property,
or the Department of Motor Vehicles is unable to produce any record
of the registered or legal owners or lienholders.
(3) Not less than 72 hours before the property was removed, the
peace officer or authorized public employee securely attached to the
property a distinctive notice stating that the property would be
removed by the public agency.
(4) Within 48 hours after the removal, excluding weekends and
holidays, the public agency that removed or caused the removal of the
property sent notice of the removal to the registered and legal
owners, if known or discovered subsequent to the removal, at their
addresses of record with the Department of Motor Vehicles, and to any
other person known to have an interest in the property. A notice
sent by the public agency shall be sent by certified or first-class
mail.
(5) If the public agency is unable to locate the registered and
legal owners of the property or persons known to have an interest in
the property as provided in paragraph (4), the public agency
published, or caused to be published, the notice of removal for at
least two weeks in succession in one or more daily newspapers
circulated in the county.
(b) The notice of removal required by paragraphs (3) to (5),
inclusive, of subdivision (a) shall state all of the following:
(1) The name, address, and telephone number of the public agency
providing the notice.
(2) A description of the property removed.
(3) The location from which the property is to be or was removed.
(4) The location of the intended or actual place of storage.
(5) The authority and purpose for removal of the property.
(6) A statement that the property may be claimed and recovered
within 15 days of the date the notice of removal was issued pursuant
to paragraph (4) or (5) of subdivision (a), whichever is later, after
payment of any costs incurred by the public agency related to
salvage and storage of the property, and that following the
expiration of the 15-day period, the property will be sold or
otherwise disposed of by the public agency.
(7) A statement that the registered or legal owners or any other
person known to have an interest in the property have the opportunity
for a poststorage hearing before the public agency that removed, or
caused the removal of, the property to determine the validity of the
removal and storage if a request for a hearing is made in person or
in writing to that public agency within 10 days from the date of
notice; that if the registered or legal owners or any other person
known to have an interest in the property disagree with the decision
of the public agency, the decision may be reviewed pursuant to
Section 11523 of the Government Code; and that during the time of the
initial hearing, or during the time the decision is being reviewed
pursuant to Section 11523 of the Government Code, the vessel in
question shall not be sold or otherwise disposed of.
(c) (1) Any requested hearing shall be conducted within 48 hours
of the time the request for a hearing is received by the public
agency, excluding weekends and holidays. The public agency that
removed the vehicle may authorize its own officers or employees to
conduct the hearing , but the hearing officer shall not be
the same person who directed the removal and storage of the
property.
(2) The failure of either the registered or legal owners or any
other person known to have an interest in the property to request or
attend a scheduled hearing shall not affect the validity of the
hearing.
(d) The property may be claimed and recovered by its registered
and legal owners, or by any other person known to have an interest in
the property, within 15 days of the date the notice of removal was
issued pursuant to paragraph (4) or (5) of subdivision (a), whichever
is later, after payment of any costs incurred by the public agency
related to salvage and storage of the property.
(e) The property may be sold or otherwise disposed of by the
public agency not less than 15 days from the date the notice of
removal was issued pursuant to paragraph (4) or (5) of subdivision
(a), whichever is later, or the date of actual removal, whichever is
later.
(f) The proceeds from the sale of the property, after deducting
expenses for salvage, storage, sales costs, and any property tax
liens, shall be deposited in the Abandoned Watercraft Abatement Fund
for grants to local agencies, as specified in paragraph (1) of
subdivision (d) of Section 525.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that this section shall
not be construed to authorize the lien sale or destruction of any
seaworthy vessel , other than a surrendered vessel as defined in
Section 522, that is currently registered and operated in
accordance with local, state, and federal law.