BILL NUMBER: AB 1333	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 31, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Achadjian

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act  to amend Sections 5002.2, 5019.53, 5080.31, and
5080.32 of the Public Resources Code,   relating to state parks.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1333, as amended, Achadjian. State parks  : local
authorities  . 
   (1) Under existing law, the Department of Parks and Recreation
administers the state park system. Existing law requires, following
classification or reclassification of a unit by the State Park and
Recreation Commission, and prior to the development of any new
facilities in any previously classified unit, the department to
prepare a general plan or revise any existing plan for the unit.
 
   This bill would revise the department's responsibilities regarding
the preparation and revision of the general plan.  
   (2) Existing law requires that the purpose of state parks be to
preserve outstanding natural, scenic, and cultural values, indigenous
aquatic and terrestrial fauna and flora, and the most significant
examples of ecological regions of California. Each state park is
required to be managed as a composite whole in order to restore,
protect, and maintain its native environmental complexes to the
extent compatible with the primary purpose for which the park was
established.  
   This bill would delete those requirements.  
   (3) Existing law requires the general plan, for a unit of the
state park system that is the subject of an operating agreement
between the department and another public agency for the care,
maintenance, administration, and control of lands under the
jurisdiction of any party to the agreement for the purpose of the
state park system, to specifically evaluate and define the manner in
which the unit is proposed to be operated. The general plan is
required to be reviewed by the commission for a determination that
the unit will be operated in a manner that generally meets the
standards followed by the department in its operation of similar
units, that enhances the general public use and enjoyment of, and
recreational and educational experiences at, the unit, and that
provides for the satisfactory management of park resources. 

   Revenues, received from lands subject to operating agreements
entered into, renewed, or renegotiated on and after October 1, 1994,
in excess of the cost, maintenance, operation, administration,
improvement, or development of those lands, as determined by the
department, are required to be available to the department, upon
appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, for
expenditure for support of the department.  
   This bill would delete those requirements.  
   Under existing law, the Department of Parks and Recreation has
control of the state park system. Existing law authorizes the
department to enter into agreements with an agency of the United
States, a city, county, district, or other public agency, for the
care maintenance, administration, and control of state park lands
that are under the jurisdiction of a party to the agreement for
purposes of the state park system.  
   This bill would provide that it is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would require the state to give a right of
first refusal to a local authority with a state park in its
jurisdiction, to purchase the park or enter into an operating
agreement for the operation of the park in the event that the park is
subject to closure pursuant to the annual Budget Act. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 5002.2 of the   Public
Resources Code   is amended to read: 
   5002.2.  (a)  (1)    Following classification or
reclassification of a unit by the State Park and Recreation
Commission, and prior to the development of any new facilities in any
previously classified unit, the department shall prepare a general
plan or revise any existing plan, as the case may be, for the unit.

   The 
    (2)     The  general plan shall
consist of elements that will evaluate and define the proposed land
uses, facilities, concessions, operation of the unit, any
environmental impacts, and the management of resources, and shall
serve as a guide for the future development, management, and
operation of the unit. 
   The 
    (3)     The  general plan constitutes
a report on a project for the purposes of Section 21100. The general
plan for a unit shall be submitted by the department to the State
Park and Recreation Commission for approval.
   (b) The resource element of the general plan shall evaluate the
unit as a constituent of an ecological region and as a distinct
ecological entity, based upon historical and ecological research of
plant-animal and soil-geological relationships and shall contain a
declaration of purpose, setting forth specific long-range management
objectives for the unit consistent with the unit's classification
pursuant to Article 1.7 (commencing with Section 5019.50), and a
declaration of resource management policy  , setting forth
the precise actions and limitations required for the achievement of
the objectives established in the declaration of purpose  .
   (c) Notwithstanding the requirements of subdivision (a), the
department is not required to prepare a general plan for a unit that
has no general plan or to revise an existing plan, as the case may
be, if the only development contemplated by the department consists
of the repair, replacement, or rehabilitation of an existing
facility; the construction of a temporary facility, so long as such
construction does not result in the permanent commitment of a
resource of the unit; any undertaking necessary for the protection of
public health or safety; or any emergency measure necessary for the
immediate protection of natural or cultural resources; or any
combination thereof at a single unit. Any development is subject to
the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act
(Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)).
   (d) Any general plan approved prior to July 1, 1972, may be used
as the basis for development if the director finds that there has
been no significant change in the resources of the unit since
approval of the plan and that the plan is compatible with current
policies governing development of the unit and the classification of
the unit. 
   (e) Consistent with good planning and sound resource management,
the department shall, in discharging its responsibilities under this
section, attempt to make units of the state park system accessible
and usable by the general public at the earliest opportunity.
 
   (f) 
    (e)  The department may prepare a general plan 
which   that  includes more than one unit of the
state park system for units  which   that 
are in close proximity to one another and  which 
 that  have similar resources and recreational opportunities
if that action will facilitate the protection of public resources
and public access to units of the state park system.
   SEC. 2.    Section 5019.53 of the   Public
Resources Code   is amended to read:  
   5019.53.  State parks consist of relatively spacious areas of
outstanding scenic or natural character, oftentimes also containing
significant historical, archaeological, ecological, geological, or
other similar values. The purpose of state parks shall be to preserve
outstanding natural, scenic, and cultural values, indigenous aquatic
and terrestrial fauna and flora, and the most significant examples
of ecological regions of California, such as the Sierra Nevada,
northeast volcanic, great valley, coastal strip, Klamath-Siskiyou
Mountains, southwest mountains and valleys, redwoods, foothills and
low coastal mountains, and desert and desert mountains.
   Each state park shall be managed as a composite whole in order to
restore, protect, and maintain its native environmental complexes to
the extent compatible with the primary purpose for which the park was
established.
   Improvements 
    5019.53.    (a)     Improvements
 undertaken within state parks shall be for the purpose of
making the areas available for public enjoyment and education in a
manner consistent with the preservation of natural, scenic, cultural,
and ecological values for present and future generations.
Improvements may be undertaken to provide for recreational activities
including, but not limited to, camping, picnicking, sightseeing,
nature study, hiking, and horseback riding, so long as those
improvements involve no major modification of lands, forests, or
waters. Improvements that do not directly enhance the public's
enjoyment of the natural, scenic, cultural, or ecological values of
the resource, which are attractions in themselves, or which are
otherwise available to the public within a reasonable distance
outside the park, shall not be undertaken within state parks.

   State 
    (b)     State  parks may be
established in the terrestrial or nonmarine aquatic (lake or stream)
environments of the state.
   SEC. 3.    Section 5080.31 of the   Public
Resources Code   is amended to read:  
   5080.31.  (a) The general plan for a unit of the state park system
that is the subject of an agreement entered into pursuant to this
article shall, in addition to the requirements set forth in Section
5002.2, specifically evaluate and define the manner in which the unit
is proposed to be operated. The general plan shall be reviewed by
the commission for a determination that the unit will be operated in
a manner that generally meets the standards followed by the
department in its operation of similar units, that enhances the
general public use and enjoyment of, and recreational and educational
experiences at, the unit, and that provides for the satisfactory
management of park resources.
   (b) The 
    5080.31.    The  general plan for a unit that
is the subject of an agreement entered into pursuant to this article
may be prepared either by the department or by the public agency that
is to operate the unit pursuant to the agreement.
   SEC. 4.    Section 5080.32 of the   Public
Resources Code   is amended to read: 
   5080.32.  (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), revenues
received from lands subject to an operating agreement entered into
pursuant to this article shall be available to the department only
for the care, maintenance, operation, administration, improvement, or
development of the unit of the state park system in which the lands
from which the revenues were derived are located and any recreational
trail providing access to those lands.
   (b)  (1)    As to operating
agreements that are in force on September 30, 1994, if a local agency
operates more than one unit of the state park system under the
operating agreement, revenues received in excess of the  costs
incurred for the  care, maintenance, operation, administration,
improvement, or development of one unit may be utilized for those
purposes at other units of the state park system operated by the
local agency. 
   (2) As to operating agreements entered into, renewed, or
renegotiated on and after October 1, 1994, revenues received from
lands subject to an operating agreement in excess of the cost,
maintenance, operation, administration, improvement, or development
of those lands, as determined by the department, shall be available
to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the
Budget Act, for expenditure for support of the department. 

  SECTION 1.    It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would require the state to give a right of
first refusal to a local authority with a state park in its
jurisdiction, to purchase the park or enter into an operating
agreement for the operation of the park in the event that the park is
subject to closure pursuant to the annual Budget Act.