BILL NUMBER: AB 1734	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


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,
 shall,  within 30 days after the time required by
law for performing the labor, making the improvements, or paying the
maintenance fee,  shall  make and have recorded by the
county  recorder,   recorder in the county
in which the mining claim is  situated,  
situated  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  name,   name and  current
mailing  address, and current residence  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  affidavit, 
 affidavit  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)  (1)    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.  However, if 
    (2)     If  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.