California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1734

Introduced by Assembly Member Obernolte

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Mathis)

February 1, 2016

An act to amend Section 3913 of the Public Resources Code, relating to mining.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1734, as introduced, Obernolte. Mining claims: recording.

Existing law requires, whenever labor is performed, improvements are made, or a maintenance fee is paid on a mining claim, that a specified affidavit be recorded in the county in which the mining claim is situated. Existing law requires that affidavit to include, among other things, the names, current mailing addresses, and current residential addresses of the person who makes the proof and the owner of the claim.

Existing law requires the recorder of each county to accept for recordation any instrument, paper, or notice that is authorized or required by law to be recorded. Existing law requires those documents, except as otherwise provided by another law or regulation, to comply with specified standards respecting margins, quality of paper, print size and color, and other related matters.

This bill would no longer require the recorded mining claim affidavit to include the current residential addresses of the person who makes the proof and the owner of the claim.

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 3913 of the Public Resources Code is
amended to read:

3913.  

(a) Whenever labor is performed, improvements are
made, or a maintenance fee is paid as required by law upon any
mining claim, the person on whose behalf the labor was performed,
improvements made, or a maintenance fee was paid, or someone
in his or her behalf, begin delete shall, end delete within 30 days after the time required
by law for performing the labor, making the improvements, or
paying the maintenance fee, begin insert shall end insert make and have recorded by the
county begin delete recorder, end delete begin insert recorder end insert in the county in which the mining claim
is begin delete situated, end delete begin insert situated end insert an affidavit setting forth all of the following:

(1) The name of the claim and the serial number, if any, assigned
to the claim by the Bureau of Land Management in the United
States Department of Interior.

(2) A reference by book and page or document number to the
public record of the notice of location of the claim and, if amended,
of the last recorded amendment thereof.

(3) The section or sections, township, range, and meridian of
the United States survey within which all or any part of the claim
is located.

(4) A description of the labor performed or improvements made
upon or for the benefit of the claim for which the proof is made,
the value of each item, and the dates on which, or the period of
time within which, the labor was performed or the improvement
was made, or a statement that a maintenance fee in the amount
prescribed by the laws of the United States has been or will be
paid, the amount of the maintenance fee, and the date of payment
or anticipated payment.

(5) The begin delete name, end delete begin insert name and end insert current mailing begin delete address, and current
residence end delete address of the person who makes the proof and of the
owner of the claim, as known to the affiant.

(6) A statement that the claim is held and claimed by the owner,
or the person making the proof if he or she is entitled to possession
thereof, for the valuable mineral contained therein.

(7) The name and address of the person who performed or made
the work and improvements described in the begin delete affidavit, end delete begin insert affidavit end insert as
known to the affiant, if applicable.

(8) A statement that all monuments required by law to have
been erected upon the claim and all notices required by law to have
been posted on the claim or copies thereof were in place at a date
within the assessment year for which the affidavit is made and a
statement of the date.

(9) A statement that, at that date, each corner monument bore
or contained a marking sufficient to appropriately designate the
corner of the mining claim to which it pertains and the name of
the claim.

(b) An affidavit recorded as required by subdivision (a), or a
copy thereof duly certified by the county recorder, shall be prima
facie evidence of the performance of the labor, the making of the
improvements, or the payment of the maintenance fee as stated in
the affidavit.

(c)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert The neglect or failure of the owner of any mining claim
to record, or cause to be recorded, within the time allowed by this
section an affidavit containing the statements required by
subdivision (a) creates a prima facie presumption of the act and
intent of the owner to abandon the claim at the end of the
assessment year within which the labor should have been
performed, the improvements should have been made, or the
maintenance fee should have been paid under the laws of the United
States, and imposes the burden of proof upon the owner of the
claim to show that the labor has been performed, that the
improvements have been made, or that the maintenance fee has
been paid in any contest, suit, or proceeding touching the title to
the claim. begin delete However, if end delete

begin insert (2) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert If end insert the affidavit is executed and recorded by anyone other
than an owner within the 30-day period, and the owner apprehends
that there are deficiencies in the recorded affidavit, he or she may
supplement the recorded affidavit by further affidavit to comply
with the section and may record the supplemental affidavit within
30 days following the last day of the 30-day period after the time
required by law for performance of the work, making of
improvements, or payment of the maintenance fee, and thereby
obtain the prima facie evidence of the performance of labor, the
making of improvements, or the payment of the maintenance fee,
and avoid the prima facie presumption of abandonment and the
burden of proving the performance of labor, the making of
improvements, or the payment of the maintenance fee required by
law.

(d) Any person who willfully makes a false statement with
respect to any mining claim on the affidavit required by subdivision
(a), or on the supplementary affidavit permitted by subdivision
(c), is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be
punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200)
or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months,
or by both the fine and imprisonment.