Existing law establishes within the Natural Resources Agency, the State Lands Commission consisting of the Controller, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Director of Finance. Existing law vests in the commission with exclusive jurisdiction over all ungranted tidelands and submerged lands owned by the state, and of the beds of navigable rivers, streams, lakes, bays, estuaries, inlets, and straits, including tidelands and submerged lands. Existing law authorizes the commission to take immediate action to remove from areas under its jurisdiction a vessel that is left unattended and is moored, docked, beached, or made fast to land in a position as to obstruct the normal movement of traffic or in a condition as to create a hazard to navigation, other vessels using a waterway, or the property of another. Existing law requires the commission, by July 1, 2019, and in consultation with other relevant state and local agencies directly involved in the removal of abandoned vessels, to develop a plan for the removal of abandoned commercial vessels.

This bill would require the commission, on or before January 1, 2027, to create an inventory of all abandoned and derelict commercial and recreational vessels on or in waters within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, including commercially navigable waters, as specified. The bill would require the inventory to include specified information about each vessel, including, among other things, the number of commercial and recreational vessels located in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the estimated size and weight of each commercial or recreational vessel. The bill would make these provisions contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.