BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2011-2012 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: AB 2509 HEARING DATE: June 12, 2012
AUTHOR: Nielsen URGENCY: No
VERSION: April 23, 2012 CONSULTANT: Bill Craven
DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL: Yes
SUBJECT: Surface mining and reclamation plans: exempted
activities.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) governs surface
mining and the extraction of minerals, including sand and
gravel, in California. SMARA provides the conditions and terms
that operators and local governments follow to approve mining
operations, including the provisions for financial assurances
and reclamation plans when mining operations are completed.
Additionally, SMARA contains exemptions for certain activities
that are not considered subject to SMARA.
One of those exemptions in Public Resources Code section 2714(a)
is for excavations or grading conducted for farming or the
immediate excavation or grading of lands affected by a flood or
natural disaster for the purpose of restoring those lands to
their prior condition.
Another exemption in Public Resources Code section 2714(d)
applies to small-scale mining activities for commercial purposes
where the amount of material removed totals less than 1,000
cubic yards and the total surface area that is disturbed is less
than one acre.
Regulations of the State Mining and Geology Board (SMGB) have
been interpreted by the Board to impose a quantitative limit of
1000 cubic yards of material on the agricultural/restoration
exemption that is not contained in the statute. The agricultural
and natural disaster exemption in statute is not limited to
projects involving 1000 cubic yards or less. The regulation of
the SMGB is at 14 CCR 3505.
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PROPOSED LAW
As amended in the Assembly, this bill would maintain the
agricultural exemption from SMARA and the exemption that allows
restoration of lands following floods or natural disasters.
The bill would allow landowners to sell the mineral product from
restoration activities provided those sales are used only to
offset the costs of the excavating or grading. Records would
have to be maintained for five years, and would be available to
any public agency upon request.
Such excavations to restore lands would have to occur within a
reasonable time after the flood or natural disaster occurred.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author and sponsor, Sutter County, this bill is
necessary to make it clear that state law, regardless of any
regulations of the SMGB, allows farmers to remove and sell soil
and other materials as provided in Public Resources Code section
2714(a).
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received
COMMENTS
This question has arisen several times in the past, most
recently with a request from a Sutter County landowner who
wanted to remove material that was deposited because of a flood.
In discussions with the sponsor and the Assembly Natural
Resources Committee, staff is recommending a different approach
that achieves the same outcome. This approach is agreeable with
the Assembly committee.
The agricultural and restoration exemption, by definition,
allows the materials that are exempt from SMARA to be sold, so
there is no reason for legislative overkill on that point.
The staff proposal is to leave the farming exemption in its
current place in SMARA and to move the restoration exemption to
a new subsection that is not covered by the SMGB regulation.
Under this approach, the Board will know its 14 CCR 3505
regulation does not apply to restoration activities.
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If any regulations are necessary by the board to implement this
new statutory subdivision, those regulations would not affect
the legislation but could conceivably deal with other questions
within SMARA such as enforcement or notice provisions.
SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS
AMENDMENT 1
Amend 2714 (a) as follows: Excavations or grading
conducted farming. ÝDelete the remainder of (a)].
AMENDMENT 2
Add a new section 2714 (l)(1). The immediate excavation or
grading of lands affected by a natural disaster for the
purpose of restoring those lands to their prior condition,
or
(2) the immediate removal of material deposited by a flood
onto lands being farmed.
SUPPORT
Sutter County
OPPOSITION
None Received
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