AB 2534

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law requires the Division of Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation of the Department of Parks and Recreation to develop and implement a grant and cooperative agreement program to support the planning, acquisition, development, maintenance, administration, operation, enforcement, restoration, and conservation of trails, trailheads, areas, and other facilities associated with the use of off-highway motor vehicles, and programs involving off-highway motor vehicle safety or education. This bill would require the Director of Parks and Recreation to establish the Outdoor Equity Grants Program, to increase the ability of underserved and at-risk populations to participate in outdoor environmental educational experiences at state parks and other public lands where outdoor environmental education programs take place. The bill would require the director to, among other things, give priority for funding to outdoor environmental education programs that primarily provide outreach to and serve students who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, foster youth, or pupils of limited English proficiency, as provided. The bill would authorize the director to accept private funds to support the program. The bill would establish the California Outdoor Equity Account in the State Parks and Recreation Fund and would require any private funds donated for the program and any funds appropriated by the Legislature for purposes of the program to be deposited into the account. The California Coastal Act of 1976 (coastal act) requires any person wishing to perform or undertake any development in the coastal zone, as defined, to obtain a coastal development permit, except as provided. Existing law establishes the State Coastal Conservancy and prescribes its membership and responsibilities relating to the protection, preservation, and enhancement of coastal lands within the conservancy's jurisdiction. Existing law establishes the Coastal Access Account in the State Coastal Conservancy Fund and authorizes the conservancy to expend funds in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, to pay for the development, maintenance, and operation of facilities that provide public access to the shoreline. The coastal act requires every person receiving a coastal development permit or a certificate of exemption for development on any vacant lot within specified designated areas, prior to commencement of construction, to pay to the California Coastal Commission for deposit in the Coastal Access Account an in-lieu public access fee, with the amount of the fee determined by specified costs of acquisition, as provided. This bill would delete the requirement, for purposes of this provision, that a coastal development permit or a certificate of exemption for development apply on any vacant lot within a designated area. The coastal act, for purposes of the above provisions governing the in-lieu public access fee amount and with respect to the Hollister Ranch public access program in the County of Santa Barbara, requires that the Hollister Ranch in-lieu fee for public access be $5,000 for each permit. The coastal act also requires that all in-lieu fees received pursuant to those provisions be deposited in the State Coastal Conservancy Fund and be available for appropriation to the conservancy for specified conservancy purposes. This bill would require that all past, present, and future in-lieu fees received pursuant to those provisions, as well as other moneys received by the State Coastal Conservancy for providing public access at Hollister Ranch from public and private sources, including nonprofit sources, be deposited in the Hollister Access Management Subaccount, which the bill would create in the fund, and used for any action necessary to implement the 1982 adopted coastal access program for the Hollister Ranch. Existing law, the Kapiloff Land Bank Act, creates the Land Bank Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund, subject to a statutory trust, to the State Lands Commission, acting as the Land Bank Trustee, to acquire real property or any interest in real property for the purposes of public trust title settlements. Existing law requires that moneys in the fund be available for expenditure by the trustee to purchase outstanding interests in land where the public use and ownership of the land is necessary or extremely beneficial for furtherance of public trust purposes. Existing law authorizes acquisitions by negotiated agreement with the owner of the outstanding interests and specifies that the act is not intended to confer any authority to exercise the power of eminent domain for its purposes. This bill would create the Hollister Ranch Subaccount in the fund, and would require moneys received by the State Lands Commission from public and private sources, including nonprofit sources, to be used for the implementation of the 1982 adopted coastal access program for Hollister Ranch to be deposited into that subaccount and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, expended by the State Lands Commission for prescribed purposes. The bill would also authorize the State Lands Commission to transfer moneys from the fund to the subaccount, in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000, for expenditure for those purposes. Existing law states it is the intent of the Legislature that the State Coastal Conservancy and the State Public Works Board utilize their authority to implement specified public access policies and provisions at the Hollister Ranch in the County of Santa Barbara as expeditiously as possible. This bill would additionally state the intent of the Legislature that all other relevant state agencies, boards, and commissions utilize their authority to implement specified public access policies and provisions at the Hollister Ranch in the County of Santa Barbara as expeditiously as possible. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Hollister Ranch.