SB 42: Public lands: Martins Beach: property acquisition.

(1)Existing law establishes the State Lands Commission in the Natural Resources Agency, and vests with the commission control over specified state lands, including coastal lands. Existing law requires the commission to consult, and enter into any necessary negotiations, with the owners of a specified property known as the Martins Beach property, as described, in the unincorporated area of the County of San Mateo, to acquire a right-of-way or easement for the creation of a public access route to and along the shoreline, including the sandy beach. Existing law authorizes the commission, if it is unable to reach an agreement to acquire the right-of-way or easement for the creation of that public access route or the owners do not voluntarily provide access by January 1, 2016, to acquire a right-of-way or easement for the creation of that public access route at Martins Beach, in accordance with specified procedures.

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 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 Martins Beach Subaccount in the fund, and would require that moneys received from public and private sources, including nonprofit sources, to be used for the creation of that public access route be deposited into that subaccount and continuously appropriated to the commission for expenditure to acquire that right-of-way or easement, as prescribed, and be expended in accordance with a specified priority. The bill would also authorize the commission to transfer moneys from the fund to the subaccount, in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000, for expenditure for that public access route, and would permit the commission to acquire the right-of-way or easement necessary for the creation of that public access route, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the commission to deposit into the subaccount and expend specified moneys received from the County of San Mateo for purposes related to the creation of that public access route.

(2)This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Martins Beach.

(3)This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.