Existing law requires the Director of Parks and Recreation, upon the adoption of a specified resolution by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles, to grant to the County of Los Angeles, in trust for the people of California, all of the rights, title, and interest of the State of California in specified state beach property, including a portion of Manhattan State Beach. Existing law requires the grant to be made upon the express condition that the County of Los Angeles use, operate, and maintain the granted lands and improvements only for public recreation and beach purposes in perpetuity. Existing law subjects the transfer of those rights, title, and interest in the granted lands to specified restrictions, including prohibitions on new or expanded commercial development on those granted lands and on the sale, transfer, or encumbrance of those granted lands. This bill would exclude specified property located in Manhattan State Beach, commonly known as Bruce's Beach, from the requirement that the property be used only for public recreation and beach purposes in perpetuity and from those specified restrictions. The bill would authorize the property to be sold, transferred, or encumbered upon terms and conditions determined by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles to be in the best interest of the county and the general public. The bill would require the Director of Parks and Recreation, on or before December 31, 2021, to execute an amendment to a specified deed that incorporates the exclusion of that property from that requirement and those restrictions. Under the California Constitution, all property is taxable and must be assessed at the same percentage of fair market value, unless otherwise provided in the California Constitution or federal law. The California Constitution limits the maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property to 1% of its full cash value and defines "full cash value" for these purposes. Existing property tax law, in accordance with these provisions, defines "full cash value" of real property to mean the fair market value of the property as of the 1975 lien date or, for property which is purchased, is newly constructed, or changes ownership after the 1975 lien date, the date on which the purchase or change in ownership occurs, or the date on which new construction is completed, and if uncompleted, on the lien date. Under existing property tax law, the purchase price, as defined, of real property is rebuttably presumed to be the "full cash value" or "fair market value" if the terms of the transaction were negotiated at arms length between a knowledgeable transferor and transferee neither of which could take advantage of the exigencies of the other. This bill, for purposes of determining the full cash value of Bruce's Beach upon its sale, transfer, or encumbrance as authorized by the bill's provisions, would require that the fair market value of that land be its full cash value as of the 1975 lien date, adjusted by an inflation factor determined as provided. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, generally define "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income for purposes of computing tax liability. This bill, subject to certain limitations, would provide that, under both the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, a recipient's gross income does not include any sale, transfer, or encumbrance of Bruce's Beach, or income directly derived from that sale, transfer, or encumbrance, in accordance with the procedures described above for the taxable year in which the land is sold, transferred, or encumbered. Existing law, the Documentary Transfer Tax Act, authorizes the board of supervisors of any county or city and county, and the legislative body of any city within the county, to impose by ordinance a tax, at a specified rate, on each deed, instrument, or writing by which any lands, tenements, or other realty sold within the county is granted, assigned, transferred, or otherwise conveyed to, or vested in, the purchaser or any other person, if the consideration or value of the interest or property conveyed or vested exceeds $100. Existing law provides various exemptions from a tax imposed by a county, city and county, or city under these provisions. This bill would exempt any sale, transfer, or encumbrance of the portion of Bruce's Beach in accordance with the procedures described above from a documentary transfer tax imposed pursuant to the Documentary Transfer Tax Act. This bill would state that its provisions are severable. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Bruce's Beach. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify areas of the state as very high fire hazard severity zones based on specified criteria. Existing law requires a local agency, within 30 days after receiving a transmittal from the director that identifies very high fire hazard severity zones, to make the information available for public review, as provided. This bill, among other things, would also require the director to identify areas of the state as moderate and high fire hazard severity zones. The bill would modify the factors the director is required to use to identify areas into fire hazard severity zones, as provided. The bill would require a local agency to make this information available for public review and comment, as provided. By expanding the responsibility of a local agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also make conforming changes. (2) Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains an occupied dwelling or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered land, brush-covered land, grass-covered land, or land that is covered with flammable material that is within a very high fire hazard severity zone, as designated by a local agency, or a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining those areas or lands within a state responsibility area, to maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, as specified. Existing law authorizes a greater distance than specified above on the specified land in a very high fire hazard severity zone. Existing law specifies that clearance beyond the property line may only be required if state law, local ordinance, rule, or regulation includes certain findings and specifies that clearance on adjacent property shall only be conducted following written consent by the adjacent landowner. This bill, among other things, would instead provide that fuel modification beyond the property line may only be required by state law, local ordinance, rule, or regulation in order to maintain the 100 feet of defensible space. This bill would also require the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a statewide program to allow qualified entities, as defined, to support and augment the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts and to establish a common reporting platform for participating qualified entities to report defensible space and home hardening assessment data to the department. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2026. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop a model defensible space program that is required to be made available for use by a city, county, or city and county in the enforcement of the above defensible space provisions. The program is required to have specified components, including general guidelines for creating and maintaining defensible space around structures, as provided. This bill would also include as a component of the model defensible space program, provisions for fuel modifications beyond the property line, as provided. The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission for approval or adoption. In the absence of a designated state agency, the commission is required to adopt specific building standards, as prescribed. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Director of Housing and Community Development, to propose specified fire protection building standards in fire hazard severity zones, including very high fire hazard severity zones, in state responsibility areas. This bill would require the State Fire Marshal and the Department of Housing and Community Development to propose, and the State Building Standards Commission to adopt, expanded application of the above-described specified building standards to high fire hazard severity zones. The bill would also require the State Fire Marshal and the Department of Housing and Community Development to consider, if it is appropriate, expanding application of these building standards to moderate fire hazard severity zones. This bill would also make other related changes. (3) Existing law appropriates specified moneys to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for purposes of healthy forest and fire prevention programs and projects that improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by uncontrolled wildfires and to complete prescribed fire and other fuel reduction projects, as provided. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2026, the department, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, to report to the relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on moneys spent pursuant to the above provision, as provided. The bill would require the department to annually appear, until January 1, 2030, before specified legislative committees to provide information on the outcomes of completed projects relating to healthy forest and fire prevention programs, as provided. (4) Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention activities in the state. Existing law requires the local assistance grant program to establish a robust year-round fire prevention effort in and near fire threatened communities. Exiting law requires that the eligible activities include, among other things, fire prevention activities, as provided. Existing law permits the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to authorize advance payments, not exceeding 25% of the total grant award, from a grant awarded pursuant to the local assistance grant program. This bill, among other things, would specify that the above-described fire prevention effort in and near fire threatened communities focus on increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities, as provided. The bill would define "fire threatened communities" as provided. The bill would specifically include vegetation management along roadways and driveways to reduce fire risk, public education outreach regarding making homes and communities more wildfire resilient, projects to reduce the flammability of structures and communities to prevent their ignition from wind-driven embers, and developing a risk reduction checklist for communities as part of the eligible activities, among other things, as provided. The bill would authorize an advance payment not to exceed either 50% of the total grant award or the cost of equipment, whichever amount is less, for the purpose of purchasing necessary equipment. This bill would require the department to develop and implement a training program, as provided, to train individuals to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and public education efforts. The bill would require the department to issue a certification of completion to individuals who have successfully completed the training program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2026. (5) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 51177, 51178, 51178.5, and 51182 of the Government Code proposed by AB 9 to be operative only if this bill and AB 9 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 13108.5 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by AB 9 to be operative only if this bill and AB 9 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4291 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 9 to be operative only if this bill and AB 9 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law establishes the Marine Managed Areas Improvement Act (MMAIA) , which, among other things, prescribes 6 classifications for designating managed areas in the marine and estuarine environments to ensure the long-term ecological viability and biological productivity of marine and estuarine ecosystems and to preserve cultural resources in the coastal sea. Under the MMAIA, in a state marine conservation area, it is unlawful to injure, damage, take, or possess any living, geological, or cultural marine resource for commercial or recreational purposes, or a combination of commercial and recreational purposes, that the designating entity or managing agency determines would compromise protection of the species of interest, natural community, habitat, or geological features. The MMAIA authorizes the designating entity or managing agency to permit, among other things, research, education, and recreational activities. This bill would authorize the designating entity or managing agency to also permit restoration and monitoring activities.
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, disability, veteran or military status, or genetic information, and provides that discrimination in housing through a restrictive covenant includes the existence of a restrictive covenant, regardless of whether accompanied by a statement that the covenant is repealed or void. Existing law also provides that a provision in any deed of real property in California that purports to restrict the right of any person to sell, lease, rent, use, or occupy the property to persons having the characteristics specified above by providing for payment of a penalty, forfeiture, reverter, or otherwise, is void, except as specified. Additionally, existing law provides that any deed or other written instrument that relates to title to real property, or any written covenant, condition, or restriction annexed or made a part of, by reference or otherwise, any deed or instrument, that contains any provision that purports to forbid, restrict, or condition the right of any person or persons to sell, buy, lease, rent, use, or occupy the property on account of any of characteristics specified above, is deemed to be revised to omit that provision. Existing law requires a county recorder, title insurance company, escrow company, real estate broker, real estate agent, or association that delivers a copy of a declaration, governing document, or deed, to place a cover page or stamp on the first page of the previously recorded document stating that if the document contains any restriction that unlawfully discriminates based on any of the characteristics specified above, that document is void. This bill would require a title company, escrow company, real estate broker, real estate agent, or association that delivers a copy of a declaration, governing document, or deed to a person who holds an ownership interest of record in property to also provide a Restrictive Covenant Modification form with specified procedural information. Existing law authorizes a person who holds an ownership interest of record in property that they believe is the subject of an unlawfully restrictive covenant, as specified, to record a Restrictive Covenant Modification, which is required to include a copy of the original document with the illegal language stricken. Existing law requires the county recorder, before recording the modification document, to submit the modification document and the original document to the county counsel who is required to determine whether the original document contains an unlawful restriction based on any of the characteristics specified above. Existing law requires the county counsel to return these documents and inform the county recorder of their determination, and requires the county recorder to refuse to record the modification document if the county counsel finds that the original document does not contain an unlawful restriction. Existing law requires the county recorder to make Restrictive Covenant Modification forms available to the public. This bill would additionally authorize a title company, escrow company, county recorder, real estate broker, real estate agent, or other person to record a Restrictive Covenant Modification. The bill, beginning July 1, 2022, would require a title company, escrow company, real estate broker, or real estate agent that has actual knowledge of a declaration, governing document, or deed that is being directly delivered to a person who holds or is acquiring an ownership interest in property and includes a possible unlawfully restrictive covenant to notify the person of the existence of that covenant and their ability to have it removed through the restrictive covenant modification process. The bill would, beginning July 1, 2022, and upon request before the close of escrow, require the title company or escrow company that is directly involved in the pending transaction to assist in the preparation of a Restrictive Covenant Modification, as specified. This bill would require the county counsel, after their review, to return the documents to the county recorder and inform the county recorder of their determination within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed 3 months, as provided. The bill would require a person who requests to record a modification document to provide a return address in order for the county recorder to notify this person of the action taken by the county counsel. The bill would require the county recorder to make Restrictive Covenant Modification forms available to the public onsite or online, as provided, and require the forms to permit the submission of a form that will correct unlawfully restrictive covenants for multiple dwellings within a subdivision, as specified. This bill would require the county recorder of each county to establish a restrictive covenant program to assist in the redaction of unlawfully restrictive covenants. In this regard, the bill would require each county recorder to prepare an implementation plan by July 1, 2022, as specified, identify unlawfully restrictive covenants in the records of their office, and to redact unlawfully restrictive covenants, as specified. The bill would require the County Recorders Association of California to submit reports to the Legislature by January 1, 2023, and January 1, 2025, of the progress of each county's restrictive covenant program and to annually convene a best practices meeting to share concepts on the implementation of restrictive covenant programs, as specified. Existing law imposes a fee, except as provided, of $75 to be paid at the time of the recording of every real estate instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded, per each single transaction per single parcel of real property, not to exceed $225. Existing law exempts from this fee any real estate instrument, paper, or notice recorded in connection with a transfer subject to the imposition of a documentary transfer tax, as provided, or with a transfer of real property that is a residential dwelling to an owner-occupier. This bill would additionally exempt from this fee any real estate instrument, paper, or notice executed or recorded to remove a restrictive covenant that is in violation of specified provisions of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. This bill, subject to authorization from the county's board of supervisors and in accordance with applicable constitutional requirements, would authorize a county recorder to impose a fee of $2 to be paid at the time of the recording of every real estate instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded for the purpose of funding the restrictive covenant programs established under these provisions. The bill would exempt certain documents from a fee established pursuant to these provisions. The bill would prohibit a county recorder to charge the $2 fee after December 31, 2027, unless the fee is reauthorized, as specified. Existing law authorizes recordation of certain documents, including a release, discharge, or subordination of a lien for postponed property taxes, without acknowledgment, certificate of acknowledgment, or further proof. This bill would authorize the recordation of any modification document, instrument, paper, or notice to remove a restrictive covenant that is in violation of specified provisions of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act without acknowledgment, certificate of acknowledgment, or further proof. By imposing new duties upon counties with respect to the imposition of the recording fee and new duties upon local county officials with respect to the redaction of unlawfully restrictive covenants, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires that the housing element include, among other things, an assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints relevant to meeting those needs. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, in consultation with each council of governments, to determine each region's existing and projected housing need and requires each council of governments, or the department for cities and counties without a council of governments, to adopt a final regional housing need plan that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county, as provided. Existing law requires the planning agency of a city or county to provide an annual report that includes specified information by April 1 of each year to specified entities, including the Department of Housing and Community Development. Among other things, existing law requires that this report include the progress in meeting the city's or county's share of regional housing needs and local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing, as specified. This bill would authorize a planning agency to include in its annual report, for up to 25% of a jurisdiction's moderate-income regional housing need allocation, the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households by the imposition of affordability covenants and restrictions for the unit, as specified. The bill would apply only to converted units that meet specified requirements, including that the rent for the unit prior to conversion was not affordable to very low, low-, or moderate-income households and the initial postconversion rent for the unit is at least 10% less than the average monthly rent charged over the 12 months prior to conversion. The bill would authorize a city or county to reduce its share of regional housing need for the income category of the converted units on a unit-for-unit basis, as specified. The bill would provide that the Department of Housing and Community Development is not required to implement the provisions of this bill until January 1, 2023. However, for reports issued after January 1, 2023, planning agencies may report conversions that occurred on or after January 1, 2022.
Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, requires employers to comply with certain standards ensuring healthy and safe working conditions, as specified. Existing law charges the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations with enforcement of the act, subject to oversight by the Chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (chief) . This bill would require the chief or a representative of the chief to convene an advisory committee, comprised of no fewer than 13 and no more than 18 individuals, including representatives from specified groups, to make recommendations, in consultation with other specified divisions and entities, to the department or Legislature to protect the health and safety of household domestic service employees, and develop voluntary industry-specific occupational health and safety guidance for the purpose of educating household domestic service employees and employers, as specified. The bill would require the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to post the report to its internet website and submit a copy to the Legislature, as specified, no later than January 1, 2023.
(1) Existing law establishes procedures for filling a vacancy in the representation of the state in the United States Senate. Pursuant to those procedures, the Governor may appoint and commission a qualified person to fill a vacancy until the vacancy is filled at the next general election or special election after the occurrence of the vacancy. Existing law provides that an election to fill the vacancy shall not be held if the vacancy occurs within a term fixed by law to expire on the third day of January following the next general election, in which case the Governor's appointment holds office for the remainder of the unexpired term, unless the vacancy is filled at a special election held prior to that general election. This bill would delete the provisions described above allowing the Governor's appointment to hold office for the remainder of the unexpired term and requiring an election to fill the vacancy to be held at the next general or special election after the occurrence of the vacancy. The bill would instead require a statewide primary election and a statewide general election to fill the vacancy, to be consolidated with either the first or second respective regularly scheduled statewide primary and general elections after the occurrence of the vacancy, as specified. If the elections to fill the vacancy cannot be consolidated with regularly scheduled statewide elections, the bill would require the Governor to consult with the Secretary of State and determine whether it is practical to hold the elections to fill the vacancy, and would authorize the Governor to issue a writ of election for special statewide primary and general elections if the Governor determines it is practical. If the elections to fill the vacancy are consolidated with regularly scheduled elections that include an election to fill the United States Senate seat for the succeeding term, the bill would require the names of the candidates to fill the vacancy to appear on the consolidated ballot immediately below the candidates to fill the United States Senate seat for the succeeding term and would require elections officials to include on the ballot, sample ballot, voter information guide, and ballot materials a notice advising voters that the ballot of the election includes both of those elections, as specified. By increasing the duties of local elections officials relative to providing these notices and conducting vacancy elections, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law generally requires a special election to be held to fill a vacancy in the State Senate, State Assembly, or United States House of Representatives and authorizes that special election to be consolidated with a regularly scheduled election held within 200 days of the proclamation of the special election if the regularly scheduled election occurs wholly or partially within the same territory in which the vacancy exists. Existing law sets forth the order of precedence of offices on the ballot, with President and Vice President of the United States listed first and proceeding to progressively more local offices, as specified. Existing law requires the County of Los Angeles, for a specified three-year period, to conduct its elections using an alternate ballot order in which local offices are listed first and national offices, including President and Vice President of the United States and United States Senator, are listed last. Existing law authorizes the County of Los Angeles to continue using that alternate ballot order after the three-year period ends. When a special election to fill a vacancy in the State Senate, State Assembly, United States House of Representatives, or United States Senate is consolidated with the next regularly scheduled election for that office, this bill would require the County of Los Angeles, during that three-year period, to list the regularly scheduled election and the special vacancy election for that office first on the ballot, as provided. The bill would authorize the County of Los Angeles to continue using this alternate ballot order for a special vacancy election consolidated with a regularly scheduled election after the three-year period ends. By creating new duties relating to ballot order for local elections officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, establishes the California Coastal Commission and provides for planning and regulation of development in the coastal zone, as defined. The act requires the commission, within 90 days after January 1, 1977, to adopt, after public hearing, procedures for the preparation, submission, approval, appeal, certification, and amendment of a local coastal program, including a common methodology for the preparation of, and the determination of the scope of, the local coastal programs, as provided. This bill would also include, as part of the procedures the commission is required to adopt, recommendations and guidelines for the identification, assessment, minimization, and mitigation of sea level rise within each local coastal program, as provided. The bill would delete the timeframe specified above by which the commission is required to adopt these procedures. The bill would require the commission to take into account the effects of sea level rise in coastal resource planning and management policies and activities, as provided. In addition, the bill would require state and regional agencies to identify, assess, and, to the extent feasible and consistent with their statutory authorities, avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of sea level rise. To the extent that a regional agency is a local public agency, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The act makes legislative findings and declarations relating to the basic goals of the state for the coastal zone. This bill would add, as part of those goals, the goal of anticipating, assessing, planning for, and, to the extent feasible, avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating the adverse environmental and economic effects of sea level rise within the coastal zone. (2) Existing law requires the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the Ocean Protection Council, to create and post on an internet website a Planning for Sea Level Rise Database describing steps being taken throughout the state to prepare for, and adapt to, sea level rise. This bill would create within the council the California Sea Level Rise State and Regional Support Collaborative. The bill would require the collaborative, among other things, to provide state and regional information to the public and support to local, regional, and other state agencies for the identification, assessment, planning, and, where feasible, the mitigation of the adverse environmental, social, and economic effects of sea level rise, as provided. The bill would require, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, the collaborative to expend no more than $100,000,000 annually from appropriate bond funds and other sources for the purpose of making grants to local and regional governments to update local and regional land use plans to take into account sea level rise and for directly related investments to implement those plans, as provided. The bill would require the Secretary for Environmental Protection and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, as part of the adoption of the annual Budget Act, to annually appear before the budget committees of both houses of the Legislature regarding the implementation of the above provisions. (3) Existing law establishes the Environmental Justice Small Grant Program under the jurisdiction of the California Environmental Protection Agency, with the purpose to provide grants to eligible community groups that are located in areas adversely affected by environmental pollution and hazards and that are involved in work to address environmental justice issues. Existing law authorizes the Secretary for Environmental Protection to expend up to $1,500,000 per year for purposes of this grant program. This bill would instead authorize the secretary to expend up to $2,000,000 per year for purposes of the grant program and would require up to $500,000 of that money to be expended by the secretary for grants to organizations working to address and mitigate the effects of sea level rise in disadvantaged communities, as defined, impacted by sea level rise. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law authorizes the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to order certain operations to be carried out on any property in the vicinity of which, or on which, is located any well or facility that the supervisor determines to be a hazardous well, an idle-deserted well, a hazardous facility, or a deserted facility, as specified. Existing law prohibits the Geologic Energy Management Division from expending more than $3,000,000 in any one fiscal year, for the 2018–19 fiscal year to the 2021–22 fiscal year, inclusive, and, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year, no more than $1,000,000 in any one fiscal year for those purposes related to hazardous wells, idle-deserted wells, hazardous facilities, and deserted facilities. Existing law provides that these moneys be used exclusively for plugging and abandoning hazardous or idle-deserted wells and decommissioning hazardous or deserted facilities. Existing law requires the Department of Conservation, on April 1, 2021, to report information to the Legislature on hazardous wells, idle-deserted wells, deserted facilities, and hazardous facilities, as provided, and to provide an update on the report to the Legislature on October 1, 2023. This bill, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year, and continuing thereafter, would provide that the spending cap applies to expenditures from the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund and would raise the cap on spending for these purposes from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 in any one fiscal year. The bill would authorize the moneys to additionally be used for remediating well sites of hazardous or idle-deserted wells. The bill would also require the department to provide an update on the report to the Legislature annually. Existing law requires the supervisor to order those tests or remedial work that in the judgment of the supervisor are necessary to prevent damage to life, health, property, and natural resources; to protect oil and gas deposits from damage by underground water; or to prevent the escape of water into underground formations, or to prevent the infiltration of detrimental substances into underground or surface water suitable for irrigation or domestic purposes, to the best interests of the neighboring property owners and the public. Existing law authorizes the supervisor or district deputy to order the plugging and abandonment of a well or the decommissioning of a production facility that has been deserted whether or not any damage is occurring or threatened by reason of that deserted well or production facility. Existing law requires the owner or operator to commence, in good faith, the work ordered and continue it until completion and, if the work has not been commenced and continued to completion, authorizes the supervisor to appoint necessary agents to enter the premises and perform the work and provides that any amounts expended are a perfected and enforceable state tax lien against real or personal property of the operator. This bill would make the above-described $5,000,000 spending cap applicable to the supervisor's authority to appoint necessary agents to enter the premises and perform the work, unless the division obtains a lien against real or personal property of the operator. If the division obtains a lien against real or personal property of greater value than the amount of the expenditure, the bill would provide that the amount of the expenditure does not count against the expenditure limit. If the division obtains a lien against real or personal property of lesser value than the amount of the expenditure, the bill would provide that only the difference between the amount of the expenditure and the value of the property counts against the expenditure limit. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 3258 of the Public Resources Code proposed by SB 84 to be operative only if this bill and SB 84 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires an electrical corporation to construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the PUC for review and approval, as specified. Following approval, the PUC is required to oversee an electrical corporation's compliance with the plans. This bill would require that an electrical corporation's wildfire mitigation plan identify circuits that have frequently been deenergized to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken, or planned to be taken, by the electrical corporation to reduce the need for, and impact of, future deenergization of those circuits, including the estimated annual decline in circuit deenergization and deenergization impact on customers, and replacing, hardening, or undergrounding any portion of the circuit or of upstream transmission or distribution lines. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.