California Coastal Act of 1976: filing fee waiver: Marine Invasive Species Act: biennial reports: semiannual updates.

The bill was expanded from amending only Section 71212 and adding Section 71212.1 (Marine Invasive Species Act reporting) to also amending Sections 30166, 30168, 30340.6, 30517, 30600.5, 30620, 30625, and 30714, and repealing Sections 30103.5 and 30108.1 of the Public Resources Code (California Coastal Act).

Coastal zone boundary changes in Los Angeles County: seaward expansion in three Santa Monica Mountains locations, addition of lands in Temescal Canyon watershed, exclusion of areas near Scattergood Steam Plant and Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant in Venice/El Segundo, exclusion of approximately 140 acres in Manhattan Beach and 170 acres in Hermosa Beach, exclusion of approximately 95 acres in Palos Verdes Estates, and two exclusions in Long Beach (near Colorado Lagoon and along Pacific Coast Highway to Los Cerritos Channel).

Coastal zone boundary changes in Orange County: addition of approximately 9.5 acres in Huntington Beach, exclusion of approximately 15 acres in Costa Mesa, conditional addition of approximately 22.6 acres in Newport Beach (excluded if Caltrans enters a hospital-related use agreement within one year), exclusion of developed portions of Pacific Island Village in Laguna Niguel, exclusion of approximately 450 acres in Dana Point and Laguna Niguel inland of PCH, exclusion of approximately 381 acres in Capistrano Beach seaward of the San Diego Freeway, addition of approximately 230 acres in San Clemente seaward of the freeway, and exclusion of approximately 214 acres in San Clemente.

Section 30103.5 (which set the inland boundary of the coastal zone near Los Angeles International Airport along Pershing Drive built before January 1, 1970) and Section 30108.1 (which defined 'Federal coastal act') are repealed. Their substance is folded into the amended Sections 30166 and 30600.5 respectively.

The Coastal Commission is now explicitly authorized to waive filing fees for applications for a coastal development permit or permit amendment. When considering waivers, the commission must give extra consideration to private nonprofit organizations qualifying under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code if the permit is for a habitat restoration project or a project to provide public access to coastal resources. The commission may also specify that a waiver applies to future applications for amendments to the same permit.

The Marine Invasive Species Act biennial report requirement in Section 71212 is changed to a triennial report, and the report content is updated from 'ballast water discharge management report forms' to 'ballast water management report forms.' A new Section 71212.1 requires the commission to publish semiannually on its website (starting April 30, 2026) a summary of ballast water management data and vessel inspection and compliance rates.

Numerous nonsubstantive cleanups throughout the Coastal Act sections, including updating cross-references, correcting grammatical errors (e.g., 'which that is' to 'that is'), clarifying language about certified portions of local coastal programs and port master plans, and removing redundant references to Section 30713 in the port master plan certification process.

The document was reformatted from the official 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL' chaptered format into a web page layout with navigation elements (skip to content, home, accessibility, FAQ, search boxes, version selector, etc.). The underlying bill text is unchanged.

Header changed from Senate Bill No. 856 with legislative passage dates to Chapter 102 with the Governor's approval date of August 28, 2025.

Page numbers changed from 97 to 96 and page headers changed from 'SB 856' to 'Ch. 102' throughout the document.

Line wrapping and indentation were reformatted across all sections, but no words or legal provisions were added, removed, or altered.