BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 141|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 141
Author: McGuire (D), et al.
Amended: 6/22/15
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 9-0, 3/24/15
AYES: Pavley, Stone, Allen, Fuller, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson,
Monning, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR: 38-0, 5/22/15 (Consent)
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Gaines, Galgiani, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez,
Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu,
McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell,
Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Runner, Stone, Vidak,
Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuller
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 54-25, 8/17/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation
District Act: land grants, acquisitions, and
dispositions
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill clarifies that the Humboldt Bay Harbor,
Recreation & Conservation District (District) is authorized to
sell or transfer certain property, and makes several other
changes to the District's Act.
SB 141
Page 2
Assembly Amendments allow the District to proceed with a
purchase or acquisition of real property within 90 days of
providing notice to the State Lands Commission (SLC) of an
intended purchase if the SLC does not object.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the District under the Humboldt Bay Harbor,
Recreation, and Conservation District Act. The Act:
a) Regulates the use of specified tide and submerged lands
within Humboldt Bay and provides for the fill, improvement,
and reclamation of those tidelands, as prescribed.
b) Requires that all grants, franchises, leases, permits,
rights or privileges be made in accordance with those rules
and regulations as the board of commissioners of the
District prescribes by resolution, and prohibits
irrevocable grants of fee title from being granted or
issued.
c) Authorizes the District to acquire, hold and enjoy, and
lease and dispose of real and personal property of every
kind, within the district, necessary to the full or
convenient exercise of its powers.
This bill enacts several changes to the District's Act,
including the following:
SB 141
Page 3
1)Deletes language requiring that irrevocable grants of fee
title be granted or issued, thereby deleting an inconsistency
in the District's Act;
2)Clarifies the responsibilities of the chief executive officer
and the Treasurer of the District;
3)Prohibits the District from making an expenditure of trust
moneys from the Humboldt Bay, Harbor, Recreation, and
Conservation District Fund (Fund) to purchase or otherwise
acquire real property without first having provided at least
90 days' written notice of the proposed expenditure to the
SLC;
4)Requires the notice to include the total amount of the
proposed expenditure from the Fund, the location of the real
property, the purpose of the purchase or acquisition, and an
explanation of how the purchase or acquisition is consistent
with the terms of the trust grant;
5)Provides, in the event that the SLC does not object within 90
days of receipt of the notice, the District, may proceed with
the purchase or acquisition; and,
6)Requires the District to give the SLC at least 90 days'
written notice of a proposed disposition of any interest in
real property if the interest was acquired by the District
with revenue generated from the granted lands, and requires
the notice to include the proposed consideration to be
received by the District, the location of the real property,
and the purpose of the disposal.
Background
The District is a trustee of sovereign lands granted to it by
SB 141
Page 4
the Legislature in the 1970s. These lands are considered
"granted lands" by the SLC which maintains oversight authority.
The District is governed by the specific granting statute(s),
the common law Public Trust Doctrine and other applicable law.
Revenues generated by a trustee arising out of the use or
operation of its granted lands are public trust assets of the
state and must be reinvested back into the trust. These
revenues must be kept separate from the general funds of a local
government and may not be used for any purpose unconnected with
the trust. Expenditures of trust funds by a trustee must be
consistent with the common law Public Trust Doctrine and the
statutory trust grant.
While granted public trust lands and assets are managed locally,
the Legislature delegated the state's residual and review
authority for granted lands to the SLC. The SLC is responsible
for monitoring administration of each statutory grant by the
trustee to ensure compliance with provisions of the granting
statute and the Public Trust Doctrine. The SLC has the
authority to investigate, audit, and review the administration
of all statutory trust grants. The SLC also has the authority
to investigate specific allegations of maladministration, to
seek corrective measures by trustees, and make recommendations
to the Legislature; the ultimate trustee of public trust lands.
In the course of conducting a review of a mismanagement
allegation against the District (which the SLC did not find),
SLC staff discovered an ambiguity in the granting statutes
relative to the District's authority to dispose of property
acquired after the initial grant ("after-acquired property").
Existing law bars any grantee from transferring, selling or
otherwise alienating sovereign tide and submerged lands.
However, the statute governing the District restricts its
ability to dispose of any lands ("Irrevocable grants of fee
title shall not be granted or issued." (see Section 23, c. 1040,
Statutes of 1976)).
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Page 5
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the state
fiscal impact of this bill is negligible.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/19/15)
Board of Commissioners of the Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and
Conservation District
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors
State Lands Commission
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/19/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the State Lands Commission,
"SB 141 eliminates the prohibition on transferring irrevocable
grants of fee title as it related to after-acquired lands.
Eliminating this restriction is intended to provide helpful
clarification and assist the District in managing trust assets
of the state. This clarification is beneficial to the District
and to the state because the sale of after-acquired lands
provides funds that the District can reinvest into administering
and improving its trust lands within Humboldt Bay for the
statewide public's use and enjoyment."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 54-25, 8/17/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia,
Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lopez, Low, Maienschein,
McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Perea, Quirk,
Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone,
Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood, Atkins
SB 141
Page 6
NOES: Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chang, Chávez,
Dahle, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Jones, Kim, Lackey,
Linder, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson,
Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines
Prepared by:Angee Doerr / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116
8/19/15 21:10:57
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