BILL ANALYSIS
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2009-2010 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: AB 2179 HEARING DATE: June 9, 2010
AUTHOR: Monning URGENCY: No
VERSION: March 18, 2010 CONSULTANT: Katharine Moore
DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL: Yes
SUBJECT: Tidelands and submerged lands: City of Santa Cruz and
City of Long Beach
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The State Lands Commission (SLC) has exclusive jurisdiction over
the state's right, title and interest in its sovereign public
trust lands. These include filled and unfilled tide and other
submerged lands as well as the beds of navigable rivers, lakes
and streams. The Legislature may grant the state's
administrative authority to manage these lands to local
agencies, subject to the public trust and on-going oversight by
the SLC, for specific uses of statewide benefit. The public
trust is a set of guiding principles that direct the state to
hold its title to public trust lands in a manner to protect the
public's interest in activities that are typically
water-dependent or related. While continually evolving to meet
changing public needs, these activities include navigation,
commerce, fishing, recreation and environmental protection,
among others. The Legislature has made grants of public trust
lands to over 80 cities, counties and harbor districts since the
state's inception.
There are instances where physical changes on or near filled or
reclaimed tidelands cause these lands to no longer be useful for
water-related public trust purposes. Section 6307 of the Public
Resources Code authorizes the SLC to enter into an exchange of
filled or reclaimed public trust lands for other lands if the
SLC finds that, among other conditions, the exchange would
enhance the physical configuration of trust land ownership,
enhance public access to or along the water, or resolve boundary
or title disputes. The public trust lands disposed of in the
exchange must be cut off from the water, and the lands received
by the state must provide a benefit to the public trust. The
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state, not the local grantee, obtains jurisdiction over the
newly acquired public trust lands. The SLC and the local grantee
usually enter into a long-term lease agreement to permit local
management of the new lands pending subsequent legislative
action to complete the exchange.
In order to settle a title dispute, a land exchange agreement
was reached between the SLC, the City of Long Beach and a
private business and subsequently approved by the SLC at its
June 5, 1991 meeting (calendar item 8). Two parcels were
acquired by the SLC as a result of this exchange and leased to
the City of Long Beach. The Legislature has made multiple grants
of public trust lands to the City of Long Beach (c. 676
(Statutes of 1911), c. 102 (Statutes of 1925), c. 158 (Statutes
of 1935), c. 138 (Statutes of 1964, 1st extraordinary session)).
Similarly, at its August 1, 2009 meeting, the SLC approved a
land exchange settlement for a different title dispute between
the SLC, the City of Santa Cruz and another private business.
The SLC entered into a long-term lease agreement with the City
of Santa Cruz for the two parcels and easement acquired. The
Legislature has also made grants of public trust lands to the
City of Santa Cruz (c. 342 (Statutes of 1872), c. 1291 (Statutes
of1969)).
PROPOSED LAW
This bill transfers the specific public trust lands obtained via
the two land exchange agreements described above from the state
to the Cities of Santa Cruz and Long Beach to be managed locally
with their other trust lands for the benefit of the public trust
and subject to specified statutory provisions. The leases
currently in force would be terminated as of January 1, 2011.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the sponsor, "this legislative grant will allow
these lands to be managed locally for the benefit of the public
trust and the people of California."
Additionally, the City of Santa Cruz notes that this bill
"finalizes a beneficial transfer of tidelands to the City's
stewardship. It represents the culmination of years of effort to
resolve tideland ownership questions, and marks the completion
of this longstanding issue. The land transfer of tidelands will
benefit future generations of Californians."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received.
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COMMENTS
Legislative grants of public trust lands via statute are
un-codified . Codified laws are generally applicable state-wide
to all. In contrast, each statutory grant of public trust lands
has unique boundaries, is made to a specific grantee, and is
rarely modified, although arguably this reduces the public's
ability to track past land grants.
SUPPORT
State Lands Commission (sponsor)
City of Santa Cruz
City of Long Beach
OPPOSITION
None Received
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