BILL ANALYSIS SB 1350 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1350 (Kehoe) As Amended April 19, 2010 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :28-5 NATURAL RESOURCES 7-0 APPROPRIATIONS 14-2 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Chesbro, Gilmore, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Conway, | | |Brownley, | |Bradford, | | |De Leon, Hill, Huffman, | |Charles Calderon, Coto, | | |Logue | |Davis, | | | | |De Leon, Gatto, Hall, | | | | |Norby, Skinner, Solorio, | | | | |Torlakson, Torrico | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | |Nays:|Miller, Nielsen | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Specifically, 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: 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; and, SB 1350 Page 2 iv)A description of existing major structures. b) Property not previously reported; and, c) The location and size of school lands. 3 Makes findings and declarations regarding the duties of public grant trustees who manage trust lands for California. 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 U.S. 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. 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. SB 1350 Page 3 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 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. AB 22 X4 (Evans), Chapter 20, Statutes of 2009-10 Fourth Extraordinary Session, 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 AB 22 X4, DGS maintained a general inventory of the state's real property for this purpose. AB 22 X4 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 SB 1350 Page 4 costing the state additional money. The San Diego Unified Port District Act (Act), 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. 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 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. Analysis Prepared by : Jessica Westbrook / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0005109