Amended in Senate May 31, 2016

Amended in Senate March 9, 2016

Senate Bill No. 900

Introduced by Senator Jackson

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Williams)

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(Coauthor: Senator Pavley)

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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, upon appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, require the commission 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, 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, human-made structures including abandoned oil and
gas wells, groins, jetties, piers, pilings, and seawalls.

(b) These remnants, 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
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 perennial health concerns and safety hazards that coastal
hazards and legacy oil and gas wells pose.

(f) There is a critical need for adequate funding to inventory
coastal hazards, including legacy oil and gas wells and related
infrastructure, along the California coastline in order to begin
determining how to remove coastal hazards and to identify and
remediate leaking legacy oil and gas wells.

(g) 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 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, within two
years, administer a coastal hazard removal and remediation
program to do all of the following:

(1)  begin delete Conduct end delete begin insert Complete end insert an in-depth inventory of legacy oil and
gas wells and other coastal hazards along the California begin delete coastline. end delete

begin insert coastline, including conducting field surveys and determining
high-priority hazards and legacy oil and gas wells to remediate. end insert

(2)  begin delete Survey end delete begin insert Survey, study, end insert and monitor oil seepage in state waters
and tidelands under its jurisdiction begin delete and request studies end delete to determine
begin delete and address end delete oil seepage locations, rates, begin insert and end insert environmental
begin delete impacts, and end delete begin insert impacts. The study information can facilitate end insert possible
mitigation measures.

(3) Begin begin delete removal of coastal hazards from lands under its
jurisdiction. end delete begin insert the process of remediating improperly abandoned
legacy oil and gas wells that have a high risk of leaking oil and,
with any remaining funds, remove other identified coastal hazards. end insert

(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, 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 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.