CHAPTER 8. Reservation of Significant Coastal Resource Areas [31350. - 31356.]

Cal. Public Resources Code - PRC 8.

in effect

Cal. Public Resources Code - PRC § 31350. Section 31350.

It is the policy of the Legislature to assure that significant coastal resource sites shall be reserved for public use and enjoyment. To achieve this objective, it is the intent of the Legislature to vest in the conservancy authority to acquire, hold, protect, and use interests in key coastal resource lands, as indicated in the chapters of this division, that otherwise would be lost to public use.

Cal. Public Resources Code - PRC § 31351. Section 31351.

(a) The conservancy shall cooperate with the commission, bay commission, and other public agencies and with nonprofit organizations in ensuring the reservation of interests in real property for purposes of this division, as well as for park, recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, historical preservation, or scientific study required to meet the policies and objectives of the California Coastal Act of 1976 (commencing with Section 30000), or a certified local coastal plan or program; or, in the case of San Francisco Bay, the sites identified in the bay plan, the Suisun Marsh Protection Plan, or in any other local plan that the bay commission determines to be consistent with those plans; or, in coastal areas not within the coastal zone or the San Francisco Bay, any other local plans. (b) The provisions of this division shall not diminish or otherwise affect the authority of the bay commission to approve, deny, or modify permits as provided in Section 66632 of the Government Code.

Cal. Public Resources Code - PRC § 31352. Section 31352.

(a) If a public agency or nonprofit organization is unable, due to limited financial resources or other circumstances, to acquire, hold, protect, or use an interest in real property for a purpose provided in Section 31351, the conservancy may do either of the following: (1) Award a grant to the public agency or nonprofit organization for a purpose provided in Section 31351. (2) Acquire and hold the interest for subsequent conveyance to an appropriate public agency or nonprofit organization. (b) The conservancy may provide the technical assistance required to aid a public agency or nonprofit organization in completing the acquisition or related functions described in subdivision (a).

Cal. Public Resources Code - PRC § 31352.5. Section 31352.5.

Where a nonprofit organization is better situated than the conservancy to acquire temporarily an interest in real property for later acquisition by a public agency or nonprofit organization, the conservancy may loan the nonprofit organization the necessary funds to accomplish the acquisition. As a condition of that loan, the nonprofit organization shall adhere to the procedures and restrictions of this chapter in accomplishing the acquisition.

Cal. Public Resources Code - PRC § 31353. Section 31353.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the conservancy may enter into an option to acquire an interest in real property in connection with a site-reservation project, when the Legislature appropriates funds for purposes of carrying out the objectives of this division. The cost of the option may not exceed six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000).

Cal. Public Resources Code - PRC § 31354. Section 31354.

The conservancy may not hold fee interests acquired in accordance with this chapter for more than 10 years from the time of acquisition. A public agency shall have the right to acquire the fee interest at any time during this period for the public purposes indicated in this chapter. At any time during this period, a nonprofit organization may acquire the fee interest if the city or county where the lands are located approves the acquisition. The acquisition shall be deemed approved thirty days after the conservancy has mailed written notice, unless the city or county objects in writing within that time. When deemed appropriate by the conservancy, the instrument conveying an interest in real property to a nonprofit organization may include a restriction permanently limiting the use of those lands to the acquisition purposes. The price to public agencies or to nonprofit organizations that acquire interests in real property from the conservancy may include the cost of acquisition or the conservancy’s administrative and management costs in reserving and managing the land, or both. The payment of this acquisition price shall be either monetary or conservancy approved property of an equivalent value, or a combination thereof. The lands acquired under this section shall not be disposed of under Section 11011.1 of the Government Code. If, at the expiration of this 10-year period, no public agency or nonprofit organization is willing or able to acquire the lands, the conservancy shall request the Department of General Services to dispose of those lands at fair market value without restriction on subsequent land use under this division. Any funds received by the state upon disposition of lands acquired in accordance with Section 31352 shall be deposited with the conservancy and shall be available for expenditure when appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of funding the programs specified in this division.

Cal. Public Resources Code - PRC § 31355. Section 31355.

The conservancy is authorized to lease interest in real property acquired in accordance with this chapter. When the leases are made to private individuals or groups, the conservancy shall annually, upon appropriation of the amounts by the Legislature, transfer 24 percent of the gross income of the leases to the county where the interests in real property are situated. The county shall distribute any payment received by it pursuant to this section to itself, to each revenue district for which the county assesses and collects real property taxes or assessments, and to every other taxing agency within the county where the property is situated. The amount distributable to the county and each revenue district or other taxing agency shall be proportionate to the ratio that the amount of the taxes and assessments of each on similar real property similarly situated within that part of the county embracing the smallest in area of the revenue districts or other taxing agencies other than the county, levied for the fiscal year next preceding, bears to the combined amount of the taxes and assessments of all those districts and agencies, including the county, on the property levied for that year. The county auditor shall determine and certify the amounts distributable to the board of supervisors, that shall thereupon order the making of the distribution. Any money distributed pursuant to this section to any county, revenue district, or other taxing agency shall be deposited to the credit of the same fund as any taxes or assessments on any taxable similar real property similarly situated. Where a county receives a payment pursuant to this section in an amount of twenty-five dollars ($25) or less in respect to any parcel of leased property, all of that payment shall be distributed to the county for deposit in the county general fund.

Cal. Public Resources Code - PRC § 31356. Section 31356.

All remaining revenue derived from leases, after allocation to counties as specified in Section 31355, shall be deposited annually with the conservancy and shall be available for expenditure when appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of funding the programs specified in this division.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026