BILL NUMBER: SB 814 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 11, 2013
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 Section 8405.2 of the Fish and Game Code, and
to amend Sections 607, 2774, and 2790
, and 30333 of the Public Resources Code, relating to
public resources administration of natural resources
.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 814, as amended, Committee on Natural Resources and Water.
Public resources: mining. resources:
administration.
Existing law prohibits sea cucumbers from being taken, possessed
aboard a boat, or landed by a person for commercial purposes except
under a valid sea cucumber permit. Existing law authorizes a sea
cucumber permit to be transferred if specified conditions are met,
including requiring that an application for transfer be submitted to
the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the payment of a transfer
fee.
This bill would authorize, upon the death of a sea cucumber
permitholder, a sea cucumber permit to be transferred by the
permitholder's heirs, assignees, or estate to a qualified person as
specified.
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.
Under existing law, the California Coastal Commission is
authorized to amend or adopt rules and regulations related to duties
of the commission in accordance with specified provisions of law.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
Department of Conservation and California Coastal Commission
provisions.
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 8405.2 of the Fish
and Game Code is amended to read:
8405.2. (a) A sea cucumber permit may be transferred by the
permittee if the permittee has previously held a valid sea cucumber
permit for any four permit years and landed at least 100 pounds of
sea cucumbers in each of those permit years, as documented by landing
receipts with the name of the permittee shown on the receipts.
(b) A sea cucumber permit may be transferred only to a person who
has a valid commercial fishing license issued pursuant to Section
7852, that has not been suspended or revoked. A sea cucumber permit
shall not be transferred to any a
person who has had a sea cucumber permit suspended or revoked while
the suspension or revocation is in effect.
(c) An application for transfer shall be submitted to the
department, with such reasonable proof as the
department may require to establish the qualifications of the
permitholder and the person the permit is to be transferred to,
accompanied by payment to the department of a nonrefundable transfer
fee of two hundred dollars ($200). The transfer shall take effect on
the date notice of approval of the application is given to the
transferee by the department.
(d) A sea cucumber trawl permit may be transferred to any
a qualified person as provided in subdivisions
(b) and (c) to take sea cucumbers by diving or by use of trawl nets.
A sea cucumber dive permit may be transferred to any
a qualified person as provided in subdivisions
(b) and (c) only to take sea cucumbers by diving. The transferee
shall specify the gear type, either trawl or dive, that the
transferee intends to use to take sea cucumbers. The gear type of the
sea cucumber permit, either trawl or dive, shall not be
transferable.
(e) Upon the death of a sea cucumber permitholder, the deceased
person's sea cucumber dive or trawl permit may be transferred by his
or her heirs, assignees, or estate to a qualified person as provided
in this section and upon payment of the fee described in subdivision
(c).
SECTION 1. SEC. 2. 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) Office of Mine Reclamation.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. 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) 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 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
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,
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. SEC. 4. Section 2790 of the
Public Resources Code is amended to read:
2790. After receipt of mineral information from the State
Geologist pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 2761, the board may,
by regulation adopted after a public hearing, designate specific
geographic areas of the state as areas of statewide or regional
significance and specify the boundaries 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.
SEC. 5. Section 30333 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
30333. (a) Except as provided in Section
18930 of the Health and Safety Code, the commission may adopt or
amend, by vote of a majority of the appointed membership
thereof of the commission , rules and
regulations to carry out the purposes and provisions of this
division, and to govern procedures of the commission.
Except
(b) Except as provided in Section
18930 of the Health and Safety Code and paragraph (3) of subdivision
(a) of Section 30620, these rules and regulations shall be adopted
in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 4.5 (commencing
with Section 11371) 3.5 (commencing with Section
11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code. These rules and regulations shall be consistent with this
division and other applicable law.