BILL NUMBER: SB 814	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Natural Resources and Water (Senators
Pavley (Chair), Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Jackson, Lara, Monning, and
Wolk)

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2013

   An act to amend Sections 607, 2774, and 2790 of the Public
Resources Code, relating to public resources.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 814, as introduced, Committee on Natural Resources and Water.
Public resources: mining.
   Under existing law, the Department of Conservation is divided
between various entities, including the Division of Oil, Gas, and
Geothermal Resources and the Office of Mine Reclamation. The Surface
Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975, administered by the department,
prohibits a person, with exceptions, from conducting surface mining
operations unless, among other things, a reclamation plan is
submitted to and approved by the lead agency for the operation. The
act requires every lead agency to adopt ordinances that establish
procedures for the review and approval of reclamation plans, and,
before approving a reclamation plan, to submit the plan to the
Director of Conservation. The act also authorizes the State Mining
and Geology Board to designate specific geographic areas of the state
as areas of statewide or regional significance, as specified.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
Department of Conservation provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 607 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   607.  The work of the department shall be divided into at least
the following:
   (a) California Geological Survey.
   (b) Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources.
   (c) Division of Land Resource Protection. 
   (d) Division of Recycling.  
   (e) 
    (d)  Office of Mine Reclamation.
  SEC. 2.  Section 2774 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   2774.  (a) Every lead agency shall adopt ordinances in accordance
with state policy that establish procedures for the review and
approval of reclamation plans and financial assurances and the
issuance of a permit to conduct surface mining operations, except
that any lead agency without an active surface mining operation in
its jurisdiction may defer adopting an implementing ordinance until
the filing of a permit application. The ordinances shall establish
procedures requiring at least one public hearing and shall be
periodically reviewed by the lead agency and revised, as necessary,
to ensure that the ordinances continue to be in accordance with state
policy.
   (b) The lead agency shall conduct an inspection of a surface
mining operation within six months of receipt by the lead agency of
the surface mining operation's report submitted pursuant to Section
2207, solely to determine whether the surface mining operation is in
compliance with this chapter. In no event shall a lead agency inspect
a surface mining operation less than once in any calendar year. The
lead agency may cause an inspection to be conducted by a state
licensed geologist, state licensed civil engineer, state licensed
landscape architect, or state licensed forester, who is experienced
in land reclamation and who has not been employed by a surface mining
operation within the jurisdiction of the lead agency in any capacity
during the previous 12 months. All inspections shall be conducted
using a form developed by the department and approved by the board
that shall include the professional licensing and disciplinary
information of the person who conducted the inspection. The operator
shall be solely responsible for the reasonable cost of the
inspection. The lead agency shall notify the director within 30 days
of the date of completion of the inspection that the inspection has
been conducted. The notice shall contain a statement regarding the
surface mining operation's compliance with this chapter, shall
include a copy of the completed inspection form, and shall specify
which aspects of the surface mining operations, if any, are
inconsistent with this chapter. If the surface mining operation has a
review of its reclamation plan, financial assurances, or an interim
management plan pending under subdivision (b), (c), (d), or (h) of
Section 2770, or an appeal pending before the board or lead agency
governing body under subdivision (e) or (h) of Section 2770, the
notice shall so indicate. The lead agency shall forward to the
operator a copy of the notice, a copy of the completed inspection
form, and any supporting documentation, including, but not limited
to, any inspection report prepared by the geologist, civil engineer,
landscape architect, or forester, who conducted the inspection.
   (c)  Prior to   Before  approving a
surface mining operation's reclamation plan, financial assurances,
including existing financial assurances reviewed by the lead agency
pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 2770, or any amendments, the
lead agency shall submit the plan, assurances, or amendments to the
director for review. All documentation for that submission shall be
submitted to the director at one time. When the lead agency submits a
reclamation plan or plan amendments to the director for review, the
lead agency shall also submit to the director, for use in reviewing
the reclamation plan or plan amendments, information from any related
document prepared, adopted, or certified pursuant to Division 13
(commencing with Section 21000), and shall submit any other pertinent
information. The lead agency shall certify to the director that the
reclamation plan is in compliance with the applicable requirements of
this chapter and Article  9   1 
(commencing with Section 3500) of Chapter 8 of Division 2 of Title 14
of the California Code of Regulations and the lead agency's mining
ordinance in effect at the time that the reclamation plan is
submitted to the director for review.
   (d) (1) The director shall have 30 days from the date of receipt
of a reclamation plan or plan amendments submitted pursuant to
subdivision (c), and 45 days from the date of receipt of financial
assurances submitted pursuant to subdivision (c), to prepare written
comments, if the director so chooses. The lead agency shall evaluate
 any  written comments received from the director
relating to the reclamation plan, plan amendments, or financial
assurances within a reasonable amount of time.
   (2) The lead agency shall prepare a written response to the
director's comments describing the disposition of the major issues
raised by the director's comments, and submit the lead agency's
proposed response to the director at least 30 days prior to approval
of the reclamation plan, plan amendment, or financial assurance. The
lead agency's response to the director's comments shall describe
whether the lead agency proposes to adopt the director's comments to
the reclamation plan, plan amendment, or financial assurance. If the
lead agency does not propose to adopt the director's comments, the
lead agency shall specify, in detail, why the lead agency proposes
not to adopt the comments. Copies of any written comments received
and responses prepared by the lead agency shall be forwarded to the
operator. The lead agency shall also give the director at least 30
days' notice of the time, place, and date of the hearing before the
lead agency at which time the reclamation plan, plan amendment, or
financial assurance is scheduled to be approved by the lead agency.
If no hearing is required by this chapter, or by the local ordinance,
 of   or  other state law, then the lead
agency shall provide 30 days' notice to the director that it intends
to approve the reclamation plan, plan amendment, or financial
assurance. The lead agency shall send to the director its final
response to the director's comments within 30 days following its
approval of the reclamation plan, plan amendment, or financial
assurance during which period the department retains all powers,
duties, and authorities of this chapter.
   (3) To the extent that there is a conflict between the comments of
a trustee agency or a responsible agency that are based on the
agency's statutory or regulatory authority and the comments of other
commenting agencies which are received by the lead agency pursuant to
Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) regarding a reclamation
plan or plan amendments, the lead agency shall consider only the
comments of the trustee agency or responsible agency.
   (e) Lead agencies shall notify the director of the filing of an
application for a permit to conduct surface mining operations within
30 days of an application being filed with the lead agency. By July
1, 1991, each lead agency shall submit to the director for every
active or idle mining operation within its jurisdiction, a copy of
the mining permit required pursuant to Section 2774, and any
conditions or amendments to those permits. By July 1 of each
subsequent year, the lead agency shall submit to the director for
each active or idle mining operation a copy of any permit or
reclamation plan amendments, as applicable, or a statement that there
have been no changes during the previous year. Failure to file with
the director the information required under this section shall be
cause for action under Section 2774.4.
  SEC. 3.  Section 2790 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   2790.  After receipt of mineral information from the State
Geologist pursuant to subdivision  (c)   (d)
 of Section 2761, the board  may   may,
 by regulation adopted after a public  hearing 
 hearing,  designate specific geographic areas of the state
as areas of statewide or regional significance and specify the
boundaries  thereof. Such   of the geographic
areas. The  designation shall be included as a part of the state
policy and shall indicate the reason for which the particular area
designated is of significance to the state or region, the adverse
effects that might result from premature development of incompatible
land uses, the advantages that might be achieved from extraction of
the minerals of the area, and the specific goals and policies to
protect against the premature incompatible development of the area.