CALIFORNIA STATUTES AND CODES
SECTIONS 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.