BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1350
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
SB 1350 (Kehoe) - As Amended: April 19, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 28-5
SUBJECT : Public Lands: records and uses
SUMMARY : Exempts the State Lands Commission (SLC) from
reporting information regarding public trust lands to the
Department of General Services (DGS) and requires the SLC to
provide certain information regarding non-public trust lands and
school trust lands to DGS.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes SLC's absolute power and authority over public
trust, or sovereign, lands that are granted to the state by
the United States (U.S.) including tidelands, submerged lands,
and navigable waterways within its borders which generally may
not be declared as surplus.
2)Establishes SLC's authority over school lands granted to the
state by the US whose purpose is to provide financial support
for public education and may not be declared as surplus.
3)Establishes that SLC, among other state agencies, is required
to provide a central inventory of information regarding all of
the state's real property holdings to DGS, including use,
projected future use, date of acquisition, purchase price, and
structural composition. This inventory may include
identification of real property that may be considered
surplus.
THIS BILL :
1)Exempts SLC from reporting information regarding public trust
lands to DGS.
2)Requires SLC to report annually to DGS beginning July 1, 2011,
information regarding non-public trust lands to reflect any
changes to that inventory occurring by December 31 of the
previous year including:
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a) Property features including:
i) The location and size.
ii)The method of acquisition and purchase price.
iii)The current use and projected future uses.
iv)A description of existing major structures.
b) Property not previously reported.
c) The location and size of school lands.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, this bill has
negligible state costs.
COMMENTS :
The state maintains authority as trustee over two kinds of
public lands that have been granted to it by the U.S.:
public trust lands and school lands. Public trust lands
include tidelands, submerged lands, and navigable
waterways. The SLC is the trustee of public trust lands in
CA and maintains absolute authority over them. The SLC may
grant management powers to local authorities in some cases,
but the state remains as the definitive authority over the
lands. Public trust lands may not be declared as surplus.
In 1853, three years after California became the 31st state,
the federal government granted the state approximately 5.5
million acres of "school lands" for the financial support
of the state's public school system. Most of these lands
were sold, leaving approximately 470,000 acres in state
ownership plus an additional 790,000 acres where the state
retains mineral mining interests. In 1984, the School Land
Bank Act (SLBA) declared California as the trustee of the
remaining 470,000 acres, most of which are in isolated
desert locations that are difficult to develop and survey,
and in some cases are hazardous. For example, according to
the SLC, some of these remaining school lands were used by
the military in World War II and may now be contaminated
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with unexploded ordnance including bombs, artillery shells,
and other ammunition. Other school lands may include
abandoned mines, hazardous materials, and in general lack
utilities, ground water infrastructure, and roads. In
January 2008, SLC reported that cleanup of the collective
school lands would cost the state anywhere between $6
million to $5 billion, depending on the amount of cleanup
required. The Public Resources Code requires that any
revenue generated by land transactions, including
exchanges, sales, and acquisitions, be deposited in the
School Land Bank Fund which benefits the State Teachers'
Retirement Fund. According to SLC, the SLBA does not allow
school lands to be declared as surplus.
ABX4 22 (Evans), Chapter 20, Statutes of 2009, required that
certain state agencies conduct and report detailed information
annually to DGS about the state's real property in addition to
inventory information that the SLC already maintains. This
additional information includes the current use and projected
future uses of the property in order to identify potential
surplus property that could be sold. Prior to ABX4 22, DGS
maintained a general inventory of the state's real property for
this purpose. ABX4 22 excluded the Legislature, the University
of California, and the Department of Transportation from the
reporting requirement. This bill would additionally exclude the
SLC from reporting information regarding public trust lands to
DGS, as well as limit the information SLC is required to provide
to DGS for non public trust lands. According to SLC, the agency
already reports certain information to DGS for non public trust
lands including location, date of acquisition, a description of
the structures, and the location of school lands. Therefore
this bill would codify certain tasks already performed by SLC
without costing the state additional money.
The San Diego Unified Port District Act (Act), Chapter 67,
Statutes of 1962, first extraordinary session, created the Port
of San Diego (Port): a non-governmental organization established
by the state Legislature in order to "manage San Diego Harbor,
and administer the public lands along San Diego Bay." In 2008,
local initiative Proposition B was introduced to amend the Port
of San Diego's Master Plan to permit development of the 10th
Avenue Marine Terminal among other developments. Most likely
due to local economics, Proposition B did not pass, however it
was suggested that the proposed constitutional amendment may
have been inconsistent with the oversight authority of the SLC
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in its role of absolute authority over public trust lands. In
its support letter, the SLC states that "SB 1350 would (also)
make findings and declarations regarding the duties of public
grant trustees who manage trust lands for the benefit of the
people of California. These findings and declarations reflect
rules of law articulated by the courts but not yet by the
California Public Resources Code."
In 2009, SB 139 (Kehoe) amended the Act to provide that the
Port's master plan not be subject to municipal, county, or
district initiatives or referendums but shall be subject to the
California Coastal Act of 1976. The California Coastal Act of
1976 requires any person, or local agency, wishing to perform
any development in the coastal zone to first obtain a coastal
development permit from the California Coastal Commission. SB
139 was pulled prior to being heard in the Local Government
committee at the author's request.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Port Authorities
Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
San Diego Unified Port District
State Lands Commission
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Jessica Westbrook / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092