Oil and gas: notice of intention.

New requirement that the supervisor or district deputy must provide a written determination within 10 working days of receiving a notice of intention stating whether it is complete or not complete.

If the notice is determined not complete, the supervisor must provide a written list specifically identifying each missing or deficient item along with the relevant legal authority requiring that item.

The requirement that a denial include a rational explanation now references the 30-working-day period running from the date of the written determination of completion rather than from the original date of receipt.

Operators are authorized to cure identified deficiencies and resubmit the notice of intention, after which the supervisor must determine completeness of the resubmitted notice within 10 working days.

If the supervisor fails to provide a written completeness determination within 10 working days, the notice is automatically deemed complete, and the 30-working-day approval or denial clock starts from the original receipt date.

The 30-working-day period for approval or denial now runs from the date of the completeness determination (or deemed completeness) rather than from the original date of receipt of the notice, effectively extending the total time available to supervisors.

Subsections were renumbered: the 24-month cancellation provision was moved from subsection (a) to a new standalone subsection (d), the denial explanation provision moved from (b) to (c), well completion/deepening provisions moved from (c) to (e), and compliance order provisions moved from (d) to (f).

The bill now amends Section 3229 of the Public Resources Code in addition to Section 3203, extending the same notice-of-intention approval framework (10-day completeness determination, 30-day approval/denial window, deemed approval if no response) to well abandonment notices.

A new subdivision (g) of Section 3203 defines 'all necessary environmental and technical materials' as including CEQA compliance documentation, location of exempted aquifers under Section 3130(c), and other information needed for the supervisor to complete reviews.

Section 3203(a)(1) now explicitly states that a complete notice includes all necessary environmental and technical materials the supervisor requires, and the supervisor must state in their written determination whether all such materials have been submitted.

When determining a notice is not complete, the supervisor or district deputy must now make a 'good faith effort' to include the list of missing or deficient items in a single document.

The condition for deemed approval was clarified from 'all necessary environmental and technical reviews are complete' to 'all necessary environmental and technical reviews by the supervisor or district deputy are complete,' specifying who must complete the reviews.

The denial requirement language changed from 'a rational explanation' to 'a rationale' for why the notice was denied.

The standard for denying a notice of intent to drill was changed from requiring a 'comprehensive reason' to requiring only a 'rational explanation.' This lowers the burden on the supervisor when denying drilling applications, as a rational explanation is a less demanding standard than a comprehensive reason.

The introduced version contained legislative markup showing a change from 10 to 30 working days for the supervisor's response deadline. The amended version presents this cleanly as 30 working days without the struck-through text.

An empty subdivision (b) was removed and subsequent subdivisions were renumbered, which is a formatting cleanup with no policy impact.

The deemed-approval provision in Section 3203(a) now requires that all necessary environmental and technical reviews be complete before the 30-working-day failure-to-act triggers automatic approval. Previously, the clock ran regardless of whether reviews were finished, meaning an operator could get an automatic green light even while the regulator was still conducting required studies.

The standard for a denial explanation in Section 3203(b) was changed from 'a comprehensive reason' to 'a rational explanation.' This lowers the burden on the supervisor or district deputy when denying a drilling notice, as 'rational explanation' is a less demanding standard than 'comprehensive reason.'