BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    SB 1473


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          SENATE THIRD READING


          SB  
          1473 (Committee on Natural Resources and Water)


          As Amended  August 11, 2016


          Majority vote


          SENATE VOTE:  37-0


           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Committee       |Votes|Ayes                   |Noes                 |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
          |Water           |14-0 |Levine, Gallagher,     |>                    |
          |                |     |Bigelow, Dodd, Eggman, |                     |
          |                |     |Cristina Garcia,       |                     |
          |                |     |Eduardo Garcia, Gomez, |                     |
          |                |     |Harper, Lopez, Medina, |                     |
          |                |     |Olsen, Salas, Williams |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
          |Natural         |8-0  |Williams, Cristina     |>                    |
          |Resources       |     |Garcia, Gomez, Hadley, |                     |
          |                |     |Harper, McCarty, Mark  |                     |
          |                |     |Stone, Wood            |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
          |Appropriations  |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow,     |>                    |
          |                |     |Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, |                     |
          |                |     |Calderon, Chang, Daly, |                     |








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          |                |     |Eggman, Gallagher,     |                     |
          |                |     |Eduardo Garcia,        |                     |
          |                |     |Holden, Jones,         |                     |
          |                |     |Obernolte, Quirk,      |                     |
          |                |     |Santiago, Wagner,      |                     |
          |                |     |Weber, Wood, Chau      |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 


          SUMMARY:  Makes procedural and technical changes to update the  
          Fish and Game Code, including conforming certain regulatory  
          processes of the Fish and Game Commission to the State  
          Administrative Procedures Act (APA), and deleting obsolete  
          provisions.  Specifically, this bill:


          1)Clarifies that, except where otherwise expressly excluded, all  
            Fish and Game Commission regulations governing take or  
            possession of wild animals are subject to the general  
            rulemaking procedures specified in Fish and Game Code Division  
            1 Chapter 2 Article 1.


          2)Revises and updates the regulatory procedures specified in  
            Article 1 to make these rules consistent with the requirements  
            of the APA.


          3)Repeals several obsolete and superfluous provisions of the  
            Fish and Game Code, and reorganizes other provisions based on  
            their function, without substantive change.


          4)Makes various other technical and conforming changes.


          5)Repeals obsolete provisions of existing law that conditionally  








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            granted certain tidelands and submerged lands to the county of  
            Los Angeles, but which by their terms never took effect,  
            thereby causing the lands to revert to the state and the  
            jurisdiction of the State Lands Commission.


          6)Clarifies that the existing requirement that each Coastal  
            Commission meeting shall occur not more than 45 days after the  
            previous meeting means 45 working days.  Similarly clarifies  
            that the existing requirement that a hearing on any coastal  
            development permit application or an appeal shall be set no  
            later than 49 days after the date on which the application or  
            appeal is filed with the commission, means 49 working days.


          7)Adds technical language to avoid chaptering out problems with  
            SB 345 (Berryhill), SB 1287 (McGuire), and AB 2249 (Cooley),  
            all of the current legislative session.


          8)Authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) to  
            award a concession agreement at Will Rogers State Beach for up  
            to 50 years in length upon approval of the DPR director, and  
            if the director determines that a longer term is necessary to  
            allow the concessionaire to amortize improvements made by the  
            concessionaire that are anticipated to exceed $1.5 million in  
            capital improvements.   


          EXISTING LAW:


          1)Specifies in the Fish and Game Code state laws concerning fish  
            and wildlife in California, including laws regarding the  
            conservation and management of fish and wildlife resources,  
            and laws governing the recreational and commercial take of  
            game and nongame species in the State.  Specifies the duties,  
            responsibilities and authorities of the Department of Fish and  
            Wildlife and the Fish and Game Commission with regard to  








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            implementation of the code requirements.


          2)Provides for a grant of certain tidelands and submerged lands  
            in trust to the City and County of Los Angeles, and to the  
            City of Santa Monica, based on specified conditions, including  
            development and approval of a master plan.  Requires that the  
            tidelands shall revert to the State and the jurisdiction of  
            the State Lands Commission if the conditions are not met. 


          3)Prohibits a state park concession contract from exceeding 20  
            years in length without specific statutory authorization.    


          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, negligible state impact.


          COMMENTS:  This bill makes nonsubstantive changes to the Fish  
          and Game Code recommended by the California Law Revision  
          Commission (CLRC).  The recommended changes update and modernize  
          the code by conforming procedural rules to current practices and  
          the APA, improve the organization of the code, and eliminate  
          obsolete language.


          In 2012, the Legislature asked the CLRC to conduct a  
          comprehensive review of the Fish and Game Code, and to recommend  
          changes to the Legislature that would update, clarify, and  
          improve the code.  In 2015, the Legislature passed and the  
          Governor signed AB 1527 (Committee on Water, Parks and  
          Wildlife), Chapter 154, which contained the first set of  
          recommendations.  This bill is the second set of such  
          recommendations.  Specifically, the changes put forward in this  
          bill would 1) generalize the rulemaking procedure for the Fish  
          and Game Commission, 2) modernize the statutes governing  
          rulemaking at public meetings to conform to APA requirements,  
          and 3) repeal obsolete provisions and make conforming revisions.  








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          In addition to the technical changes to the Fish and Game Code,  
          this bill would repeal an outdated statute that granted  
          tidelands to the County of Los Angeles in 1967 that has been  
          agreed to by the County and the State Lands Commission.  This  
          provision being repealed was never implemented and is now  
          obsolete.  The State Lands Commission has asked that the statute  
          be deleted to avoid confusion.  The State Lands Commission  
          explains that in 1967, the California Legislature conditionally  
          granted public trust lands to the County of Los Angeles.  To be  
          operative, the grantee was required to submit a land use plan to  
          the State Lands Commission for approval.  The land use plan was  
          not submitted and the land reverted back to the State.  It is  
          currently under the State Lands Commission's jurisdiction.  This  
          bill would repeal the granting statute to clarify jurisdiction  
          and lessen confusion when projects are proposed on the land.




          The latest amendments also add a provision authorizing the  
          director of the DPR to approve a concession agreement at Will  
          Rogers State Beach to be awarded for up to 50 years if the  
          director determines that the longer term is necessary to allow  
          the concessionaire to amortize improvements made by the  
          concessionaire that are anticipated to exceed $1.5 million in  
          capital improvements.  Since 1975, the County of Los Angeles has  
          been managing Will Rogers State Beach under an operating  
          agreement with the DPR.  A concession contract for a restaurant  
          on the property has been providing the county with annual rent  
          payments, but those rent payments have been declining.  The  
          concession contract is expiring at the end of 2017 and is not  
          being renewed.  












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          According to the DPR, the facilities will require a multimillion  
          capital investment to make them profitable again.  The County is  
          currently in the process of issuing an RFP for the concession.   
          According to the DPR and the County, it is probable that  
          prospective concessionaires, who will likely be required to  
          demolish the existing building and construct an entirely new  
          facility on the property, will be deterred from bidding on the  
          project because current law does not allow for a concession  
          contract term longer than 20 years for this type of structure  
          without specific statutory authorization.  Without full  
          refurbishment, due to the age and deterioration of the building,  
          the County will experience a decline in revenue which is  
          currently used to defray beach maintenance operations.  This  
          bill allows the DPR director to approve a longer term concession  
          agreement of up to 50 years, in order to allow these significant  
          investments to be amortized over a longer period.  




          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Diane Colborn / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096     
                                                                  FN:  
          0003891