BILL NUMBER: SB 900 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 9, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Jackson
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Williams)
JANUARY 21, 2016
An act to amend Section 6217 of, and to add Section 6212 to, the
Public Resources Code, relating to state lands.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 900, as amended, Jackson. State lands: coastal hazard removal
and remediation program.
(1) Existing law establishes the State Lands Commission in the
Natural Resources Agency and prescribes the functions and duties of
the commission. Under existing law, the commission has jurisdiction
over various state lands, including coastal lands.
This bill would require, would, upon
appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, require the
commission to to, within 2 years,
administer a coastal hazard removal and remediation program, as
specified. The bill would authorize the commission to seek and
accept on behalf of the state any gift, bequest, devise, or donation
whenever the gift and the terms and conditions thereof will aid in
actions undertaken to administer that program. The bill would
authorize the commission to seek to abandon, in cooperation with the
Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, legacy oil and gas
wells wells, as defined, that present a
hazard to the public health and safety and the environment. The bill
would require the commission to annually report to the Legislature
the activities and accomplishments of the program.
(2) Existing law, with specified exceptions, generally requires
the State Lands Commission, on and after July 1, 2006, to deposit all
revenue, money, and remittances, derived from mineral extraction
leases on state tide and submerged lands, including tideland oil
revenue, into the General Fund, to be available upon appropriation by
the Legislature for specified purposes. Existing law establishes the
Land Bank Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, from which the
commission may expend moneys for management and improvement of real
property held by the commission, as trustee, to provide open space,
habitat for plants and animals, and public access.
This bill would require that, for the 2017-18 fiscal year, out of
those funds deposited into the General Fund by the commission, the
sum of $2,000,000 be transferred to the Land Bank Fund and be
available, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, for the
purpose of implementing the coastal hazard removal and
remediation program. The bill would require that, commencing with the
2018-19 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, an amount
sufficient to bring the unencumbered balance of the Land Bank Fund
available for the purpose of implementing the program to $2,000,000
be transferred to that fund and be available, upon an appropriation
in the annual Budget Act, for the purpose of implementing the
program.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Scattered along the California coastline are the remnants of
many old, manmade human-made structures
including abandoned oil and gas wells, groins, jetties, piers,
pilings, and seawalls.
(b) These remnants, which are often covered and
uncovered by tides, are the legacy of the rapid commercial
development along the coastline that began just before the turn of
the 20th century.
(c) Most legacy oil and gas wells were abandoned in the
early 1900s when there was little or no oversight of the abandonment
activities, so the level of demolition and
removal, if any, varied from well to well. Some legacy oil and
gas wells, therefore, may seep oil into the surf zone impacting
swimmers, surfers, and other recreational users, and causing
environmental degradation.
(d) The State Lands Commission has primary jurisdiction over
sovereign lands along the California coastline that are
held in trust for statewide public purposes, including, commerce,
navigation, fishing, recreation, and open space and habitat
preservation.
(e) The State Lands Commission has long recognized the serious and
ongoing perennial health concerns and
safety hazards posed by that coastal
hazards and legacy wells. oil and gas wells
pose.
(f) There is a critical need for adequate funding to
conduct an in-depth inventory of coastal
hazards, including legacy oil and gas wells and related
infrastructure, along the California coastline. An
assessment of the entitlement of lands and the engineering
requirements and related funding needs for removal of coastal hazards
is necessary to begin considering how to remove coastal hazards and
remediate legacy wells. coastline in order to begin
determining how to remove coastal hazards and to identify and
remediate leaking legacy oil and gas wells.
(g) Provided With adequate funding,
the State Lands Commission can inventory coastal hazards, legacy
oil and gas wells and other oil and gas related hazards along
the California coastline, including determining specific
GPS locations, assessing entitlement requirements,
preparing preliminary engineering requirements and removal cost
estimates for each hazard, and removing and remediating hazards that
are a significant risk to public health and safety and the
environment. Adequate funding will also enable the State Lands
Commission to survey and monitor oil seepage in state waters under
its jurisdiction and on tidelands, and to request studies to
determine oil seepage locations, rates, environmental impacts, and
mitigation measures.
SEC. 2. Section 6212 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
6212. (a) Upon appropriation of moneys by the Legislature for the
purposes of this section, the commission shall
shall, within two years, administer a coastal hazard
removal and remediation program to do all of the following:
(1) Remove coastal hazards from lands under its jurisdiction.
(2)
(1) Conduct an in-depth inventory of the
legacy oil and gas wells and other coastal hazards along
the California coastline.
(3)
(2) Survey and monitor oil seepage in state waters and
tidelands under its jurisdiction and request studies to determine
and address oil seepage locations, rates, environmental
impacts, and possible mitigation measures.
(3) Begin removal of coastal hazards from lands under its
jurisdiction.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 11005 of the Government Code and any
other law requiring approval by a state officer of gifts, bequests,
devises, or donations, the commission may seek and accept on behalf
of the state any gift, bequest, devise, or donation whenever the gift
and the terms and conditions thereof will aid in actions undertaken
pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c) In cooperation with the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal
Resources, the commission may seek to abandon legacy oil and gas
wells that present a hazard to the public health and safety and the
environment.
(d) The commission shall annually report to the Legislature the
activities and accomplishments of the program. The commission may
include this information in the annual report it submits pursuant to
Section 8618.
(e) For purposes of this section the following definitions apply:
(1) "Coastal hazards," include, but are not limited to,
manmade legacy oil and gas wells and human-made
structures, including piers, jetties, groins, seawalls, and
facilities associated with past oil extraction and other
commercial operations, that pose a hazard to the public health
and safety. Coastal hazards may include wood or steel piles or
piling, sheet metal pilings, H piles and H beams, well casings, well
caissons, railroad irons, cables, angle bars, pipes, pipelines, rip
rap, and wood beams and structures.
(2) "Legacy oil and gas wells" are oil and gas wells that
were drilled in the surf zone or just offshore before the enactment
of the State Tidelands Act of 1921. wells drilled near
shore, before current abandonment standards, where there is little
or no information on the well's abandonment procedure and there is no
viable company with the responsibility to reabandon the
well should it start leaking or pose a threat to the environment or
the public health and safety.
SEC. 3. Section 6217 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
6217. With the exception of revenue derived from state school
lands and from sources described in Sections 6217.6, 6301.5, 6301.6,
6855, and Sections 8551 to 8558, inclusive, and Section 6404 (insofar
as the proceeds are from property that has been distributed or
escheated to the state in connection with unclaimed estates of
deceased persons), the commission shall deposit all revenue, money,
and remittances received by the commission under this division, and
under Chapter 138 of the Statutes of 1964, First Extraordinary
Session, in the General Fund. Out of those funds deposited in the
General Fund, sufficient moneys shall be made available each fiscal
year for the following purposes:
(a) Payment of refunds, authorized by the commission, out of
appropriations made for that purpose.
(b) Payment of expenditures of the commission as provided in the
annual Budget Act.
(c) Payments to cities and counties of the amounts specified in
Section 6817 for the purposes specified in that section, out of
appropriations made for that purpose.
(d) Payments to cities and counties of the amounts agreed to
pursuant to Section 6875, out of appropriations made for that
purpose.
(e) (1) For the 2017-18 fiscal year, the sum of two million
dollars ($2,000,000) shall be transferred to the Land Bank Fund and,
notwithstanding Section 8610, shall be available, upon appropriation
in the annual Budget Act, for the purpose of implementing the
commission's coastal hazard removal and remediation
program provided in Section 6212.
(2) Commencing with the 2018-19 fiscal year, and each fiscal year
thereafter, an amount sufficient to bring the unencumbered balance of
the Land Bank Fund available for the purpose of implementing the
commission's coastal hazard removal and remediation
program provided in Section 6212 to two million dollars
($2,000,000) shall be transferred to the Land Bank Fund and,
notwithstanding Section 8610, shall be available, upon appropriation
in the annual Budget Act, for the purpose of implementing the
commission's coastal hazard removal and remediation
program provided in Section 6212.