BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1847
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          Date of Hearing:  April 18, 2012

                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
                                Cameron Smyth, Chair
                  AB 1847 (Lowenthal) - As Amended:  March 19, 2012
           
          SUBJECT  :  City of Long Beach: grant of public trust lands.

           SUMMARY  :  Grants and conveys in trust to the City of Long Beach 
          (City) all the right, title, and interest of the state in public 
          trust lands known as the Bixby Park Public Trust Parcels, the 
          Colorado Lagoon Public Trust Parcels, and the Marine Stadium 
          Channel Public Trust Parcels. Specifically,  this bill  :   

          1)Grants and conveys in trust to the City all the right, title, 
            and interest of the State of California in public trust lands 
            known as the Bixby Park Public Trust Parcels, the Colorado 
            Lagoon Public Trust Parcels, and the Marine Stadium Channel 
            Public Trust Parcels (collectively referred to here as the 
            "Public Trust Parcels").  
              
          2)Terminates the leases issued from the State Lands Commission 
            to the City for the Public Trust Parcels.  

          3)Requires the City to hold, operate, and manage, in trust for 
            the benefit of the statewide public, the Public Trust Parcels 
            in accordance with the common law Public Trust Doctrine and 
            the terms, trusts, and conditions pursuant to Chapter 676 of 
            the Statutes of 1911, Chapter 102 of the Statutes of 1925, 
            Chapter 158 of the Statutes of 1935, and Chapter 138 of the 
            First Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 1964, as 
            amended.

          4)Makes findings and declarations that, because of the unique 
            circumstances applicable only to the lands described above, a 
            statute of general applicability cannot be enacted within the 
            meaning of subdivision (b) of Section 16 of Article IV of the 
            California Constitution, and that a special statute is 
            necessary. 

           EXISTING LAW  :  

             1)   Protects, pursuant to the common law Public Trust 
               Doctrine, the public's right to use California's waterways 
               for commerce, navigation, fishing, boating, natural habitat 








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               protection, and other water-oriented activities.  The 
               Public Trust Doctrine provides that filled and unfilled 
               tide and submerged lands and the beds of lakes, streams, 
               and other navigable waterways (i.e. public trust lands) are 
               to be held in trust by the state for the benefit of the 
               people of California.  

             2)   Requires the State Lands Commission (Commission) to be 
               the steward and manager of the state's public trust lands.  
               The Commission has direct administrative control over the 
               state's public trust lands and oversight authority over 
               public trust lands granted by the Legislature to local 
               governments.

             3)   Authorizes the Commission to lease public trust lands, 
               enter into boundary line agreements, and, in limited 
               circumstances, exchange public trust lands for non-trust 
               lands.

             4)   Granted state public trust lands to over 80 local public 
               agencies (a.k.a. local trustees/grantees) to be managed for 
               the benefit of all the people of the state and pursuant to 
               the Public Trust Doctrine and terms of the applicable 
               granting statutes.  The City was granted certain public 
               trust lands pursuant to Chapter 676, Statutes of 1911; 
               Chapter 102, Statutes of 1925; Chapter 158, Statutes of 
               1935; and Chapter 138, Statutes of 1964.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal.

           COMMENTS  :    

          1)This bill is intended to finalize a non-controversial land 
            exchange between the City of Long Beach and the Commission. 
            The end result will be the consolidation of management of the 
            public trust lands within the City of Long Beach.  AB 1847 is 
            sponsored by the Commission.

          2)According to the author, "As a result of title disputes, Long 
            Beach and the Commission agreed on an exchange in 2001, which 
            was Ýthe] subject of an independent lawsuit that ultimately 
            invalidated the agreement? The new exchange returned the 
            'Trust Termination Parcel', which is currently occupied by the 
            Pike shopping center, to the State Lands Commission. Before 
            that, the parcel had been held in trust by the City of Long 








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            Beach. The city also conveyed three coastal or adjacent 
            parcels to the State Lands Commission. The State Lands 
            Commission deeded all interest in the Pike parcel back to the 
            City of Long Beach.  It then entered the three other parcels 
            into the State Lands' trust.  The agreement requires 
            legislation to finalize the agreement, which will return the 
            three parcels to the City of Long Beach to be held in trust 
            for the State Lands Commission." 

          The City of Long Beach adds "The Queensway Bay Title Settlement 
            and Land Exchange Agreement included a provision that requires 
            Long Beach and the Commission to pursue legislation to include 
            Ýthe relevant] properties in the City's statutory tidelands 
            trust grant. 
          AB 1847 fulfills this requirement." 

          3)For over 100 years, the Legislature has granted public trust 
            lands to local public agencies so that the lands can be 
            managed locally for the benefit of the people of California.  
            Virtually all grants have been made by non-codified statutes.  
            A granting statute generally explains what lands have been 
            granted and how they are to be managed by the grantee.  
            Without a tideland grant, the Commission has direct authority 
            to lease or otherwise manage public trust lands within the 
            jurisdiction of a local public agency.  

            Section 6307 of the Public Resources Code authorizes the 
            Commission to enter into an exchange of filled or reclaimed 
            public trust lands for other lands if the Commission finds 
            that, among other conditions, the exchange would enhance the 
            physical configuration of trust land ownership, enhance public 
            access to or along the water, or resolve boundary or title 
            disputes. 

          4)In 1911, the Legislature granted to the City all filled and 
            unfilled public trust lands within the City's boundaries.  The 
            grant required the lands and revenues therefrom to be used by 
            the City solely for the establishment, improvement, and 
            construction of a harbor, and for the construction, 
            maintenance, and operation of wharves, docks, piers, slips, 
            quays, and other 
          utilities, structures, and appliances necessary or convenient 
            for the promotion and accommodation of commerce and 
            navigation.  This grant was significant because it allowed for 
            the development of the Port of Long Beach.








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            On June 23, 2011, the Commission approved a title settlement 
            and land exchange agreement with the City in which the 
            Commission received the Public Trust Parcels, which include 
            38.37 acres of land consisting of a) a bluff-top park, 
            adjacent to existing public trust land, fronting the Pacific 
            Ocean (the Bixby Park Public Trust Parcels); b) a tidal lagoon 
            and surrounding beach that was sold into private ownership 
            over one hundred years ago (the Colorado Lagoon Public Trust 
            Parcels); and, c) an open space area that is proposed to 
            become an open channel that will not only provide wetland 
            habitat but also return tidal flow to the lagoon (the Marine 
            Stadium Channel Public Trust Parcels).  The Commission 
            determined that these parcels have significant public trust 
            value based on their location, history, and current and 
            proposed uses.

            In exchange for the Public Trust Parcels, the Commission 
            terminated the public trust in one 10.24-acre parcel that had 
            been filled and reclaimed and is physically separated from the 
            water by 550 feet of fill, bulkheads, and lanes of Shoreline 
            Boulevard (the Commission had determined that this particular 
            parcel was relatively useless for public trust purposes).  The 
            Commission then transferred the 10.24-acre parcel to the City 
            in fee simple.

          5)Since the Public Trust Parcels are not part of any previous 
            legislative grant, the Commission has administrative control 
            over the parcels.  Rather than directly manage the lands, the 
            Commission has issued 49 year leases to the City. These leases 
            allow the City to manage and spend local trust revenues to 
            improve the lands.  This bill will grant the Public Trust 
            Parcels to the City, thus bringing these lands into the same 
            management as the rest of the City's granted public trust 
            lands.  With this grant, it is no longer necessary for the 
            City to have leases with the Commission for these lands.  
            According to the City of Long Beach, if this bill were not 
            passed, the City and Commission would simply revert back to 
            the practice of executing 49 year leases to exchange control 
            of the properties.

          6)This bill is roughly comparable in content to AB 2179 
            (Monning), Chapter 377, Statutes of 2010, which conveyed lands 
            in trust to the cities of Santa Cruz and Long Beach and passed 
            out of the Assembly Local Government Committee on consent 








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            (8-0) on April 21, 2010.   

           7)Support arguments  :  This bill merely formalizes a land 
            exchange agreement to clear up previous title disputes, and 
            consolidates the management of the public trust lands within 
            the City boundaries for greater efficiency. 

             Opposition arguments  :  None.

          8)This bill is double-referred, having passed out of the Natural 
            Resources Committee on consent (9-0) on March 26, 2012.

           





          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          State Lands Commission ÝSPONSOR]
          City of Long Beach

           Opposition 
           
          None on file
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Hank Dempsey / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958