BILL ANALYSIS
SB 833
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Date of Hearing: August 19, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
SB 833 (Committee on Natural Resources and Water) - As Amended:
August 17, 2009
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This omnibus committee bill makes a number of substantive and
nonsubstantive changes to existing provisions of the Public
Resource Code, Government Code and uncodified statutes.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Clarifies that a person who owns, leases, operates or
maintains an occupied structure in an area covered with
flammable materials, such as trees or brush or other fuel,
must maintain defensible space of 100 feet from each side of
the structure, and prohibits requirements to maintain
additional defensible space unless authorized by state or
local law or regulation.
2)Specifies the information that must be included in a Notice of
Reclamation Plan Approval, including the name of the owner of
the mine, the name of the lead agency, and the signature of
the lead agency representative.
3)Specifies the information a property owner must record with a
county recorder in order to protect sites of Native American
remains.
4)Requires that development on Yerba Buena Island not
significantly obstruct certain views.
5)Revises a map of Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island to
include approximately 40 acres of lands that are proposed to
be removed from public trust.
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6)Other technical and nonsubstantive changes.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor, absorbable state costs.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This omnibus committee bill updates, clarifies and
makes non-controversial changes to various programs to
increase effective implementation. These changes have been
requested by the public agencies responsible for administering
the programs and policies subject to these code sections.
2)Background .
a) Defensible Space. SB 1595 (Kehoe, Chapter 366, Statutes
of 2008) revised defensible space requirements to require
an owner of a structure to maintain defensible pace no
greater than 100 feet from each side of the structure. The
bill provides that an owner is not required to maintain
defensible space beyond 100 feet unless allowed by state
law, local ordinance, or regulation, and that additional
defensible space may be required by state law, local
ordinance, rule, or regulation. The Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection reports this language to have caused
confusion about the amount of defensible space required.
Property owners have expressed concern that some insurance
companies require policyholders to maintain defensible
space greater than 100 feet.
b) Surface Mining Reclamation Plans . The state Surface
Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 prohibits a person from
conducting surface mining operations without a permit from
a lead agency and an approved reclamation plan. Upon
approval of a reclamation plan, a lead agency is required
to record a "Notice of Reclamation Plan Approval" with a
county recorder.
c) Native American Remains . Existing law requires a
landowner, under certain circumstances, to record the
location of Native American human remains with a county
recorder and to protect the site of the remains.
d) Public Trust Lands-Treasure and Yerba Buena Islands and
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Maps. Public trust lands refer to lands that are
maintained for public use. State law generally authorizes
exchanges of public trust and non-trust lands of equal
value whenever it is in the best public trust interest of
the state.
The State Lands Commission manages lands the state has
received from the federal government. These lands total
more than four million acres and include tide and submerged
lands, swamp and overflow lands, the beds of navigable
waterways, and state school lands.
SB 1873 (Burton, Chapter 543, Statutes of 2004) sought to
facilitate redevelopment on Treasure Island. That bill
authorized the State Lands Commission to approve an
exchange of public trust lands on Treasure Island that are
no longer useful for public trust purposes for non-trust
lands on Yerba Buena Island that would be useful for public
trust purposes, provided certain conditions exist. Among
those conditions is a finding by the commission that
sufficient building height limitations are in place to
ensure that views from public areas at Yerba Buena Island
are not obstructed. The commission maintains a map of
Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island that identifies
public trust lands on the islands and reflects the exchange
of public trust lands discussed above.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081