6701-6706
PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE
SECTION 6701-6706
6701. Subject to the provisions of Section 6702, no amendment, modification, or revocation, in whole or in part, of any grant of tide or submerged lands heretofore made or that may be hereafter made by the Legislature shall impair or affect the rights or obligations of third parties, including lessees, lenders for value, holders of contracts conferring the right to the use and occupation of, or the right to conduct operations upon or within such lands, arising from leases, contracts, or other instruments lawfully entered into prior to the effective date of such amendment, modification, or revocation. 6702. (a) The provisions of Section 6701 shall not apply to any of the following unless the provisions of subdivision (b) are first complied with: (1) Any lease, contract, or other instrument entered into on or after the effective date of this chapter. (2) Any lease, contract, or other instrument entered into before the effective date of this chapter if (i) such lease, contract, or other instrument affects lands which have been filled in between January 1, 1970, and the date of any such amendment, modification, or revocation by the Legislature, or (ii) there have not been erected, prior to January 1, 1970, any artificial structures on any of the lands affected thereby pursuant to any exercise of rights expressly or impliedly conferred by any such lease, contract, or other instrument and under the terms of such lease, contract, or other instrument the total capital expenditures reasonably anticipated on such lands are ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or greater. (3) Any amendment, modification, or alteration made on or after January 1, 1970, to any lease, contract, or other instrument entered into before the effective date of this chapter if such amendment, modification, or alteration either extends the term of such lease, contract, or other instrument for more than six months or authorizes the erection of improvements not previously authorized thereby upon lands unoccupied by permanent structures as of January 1, 1970. For purposes of this chapter, "lease, contract, or other instrument" includes any amendment, modification, or alteration described by this paragraph. (b) The provisions of Section 6701 shall be applicable to any lease, contract, or other instrument described in subdivision (a) which is submitted to the State Lands Commission and as to which the commission makes all the following determinations: (1) That such lease, contract, or other instrument is in accordance with the terms of the grant or grants under which title to the tide or submerged lands in question is held. (2) That the proceeds of such lease, contract, or other instrument shall be deposited in an appropriate fund expendable only for statewide purposes authorized by a legislative grant. (3) That such lease, contract, or other instrument is in the best interests of the state. (c) The provisions of Section 6701 shall apply to any lease, contract, or other instrument entered into before the effective date of this chapter if such lease, contract, or other instrument is not one described by subdivision (a), without requiring that it be submitted to the State Lands Commission. (d) For purposes of this section, lands shall be deemed to have been "filled in" if such lands were permanently or periodically covered by tidal waters on or after January 1, 1970, and thereafter are either raised to a level above mean lower low water by the deposition of earth or other materials thereon or have permanent artificial structures erected thereon. 6703. Whenever a lease, contract, or other instrument is submitted to the State Lands Commission pursuant to Section 6702, the costs of any study or investigation, including a reasonable reimbursement for employees' time, incurred by the State Lands Division in processing and investigating such submittal shall be borne by the legislative grantee or the person or entity making such submittal, as may be agreed upon between the commission and such grantee or other person or entity making such submittal, in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the commission. 6704. Failure of the State Lands Commission to issue to the legislative grantee a written report making, or declining to make with reasons for so declining, the determinations set forth in Section 6702 within 90 days of receipt from the legislative grantee of all material required by the rules and regulations of the commission to be submitted pursuant to Section 6702, or within any other period of time mutually agreed upon by the commission and the legislative grantee, shall be the equivalent of an affirmative finding with respect to each of such determinations required by Section 6702 and the provisions of Section 6701 shall become applicable to the lease, contract, or other instrument in question. 6705. This chapter shall not be construed to affect the validity of leases, contracts, or other instruments affecting tide or submerged lands, and there shall be no presumptions raised concerning the validity or invalidity of any lease, contract, or other instrument which is required by Section 6702 to be submitted to the State Lands Commission in order to make the provisions of Section 6701 applicable thereto because of the failure of the legislative grantee to submit such lease, contract, or other instrument to the commission, or because of any findings of such commission thereon. 6706. If on the effective date of any revocation of a grant of tide or submerged lands, there are in effect any leases, contracts, or other instruments to which the provisions of Section 6701 are applicable, the state may at its option, exercised by, and evidenced by appropriate action on the part of, the State Lands Commission, succeed to the interest in any such instrument of the grantee named in such grant; otherwise, the interest of such grantee in any such instrument then in effect shall continue during the term or other period of time during which such instrument shall remain in effect, or until such time as the commission exercises the option set forth in this section. The grantee shall furnish the commission with all such instruments within 30 days after the effective date of any such revocation, or any longer period mutually agreed upon between the commission and the grantee, and the commission may exercise the option at any time within six months from the date such instruments were submitted to it.