BILL NUMBER: SB 1073	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Gaines

                        FEBRUARY 14, 2012

   An act to amend Section 5002.2 of the Public Resources Code,
relating to state parks.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1073, as introduced, Gaines. State parks: development of new
facilities: general plan.
   Existing law vests with the Department of Parks and Recreation
control of the state park system. Existing law requires the
department, prior to the development of any new facilities in any
previously classified unit of the state park system, to prepare a
general plan or revise any existing plan for the unit.
   This bill would require that the department, revise instead any
relevant existing plan for the unit.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 5002.2 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
   5002.2.  (a)  (1)    Following classification or
reclassification of a unit by the State Park and Recreation
Commission, and prior to the development of any new facilities in any
previously classified unit, the department shall prepare a general
plan or revise any    relevant  existing plan,
 as the case may be,  for the unit. 
   The 
    (2)     The  general plan shall
consist of elements that will evaluate and define the proposed land
uses, facilities, concessions, operation of the unit, any
environmental impacts, and the management of resources, and shall
serve as a guide for the future development, management, and
operation of the unit. 
   The 
    (3)     The  general plan constitutes
 a   an environmental impact  report on a
project for the purposes of Section 21100. The general plan for a
unit shall be submitted by the department to the State Park and
Recreation Commission for approval.
   (b) The resource element of the general plan shall evaluate the
unit as a constituent of an ecological region and as a distinct
ecological entity, based upon historical and ecological research of
plant-animal and soil-geological relationships and shall contain a
declaration of purpose, setting forth specific long-range management
objectives for the unit consistent with the unit's classification
pursuant to Article 1.7 (commencing with Section 5019.50), and a
declaration of resource management policy, setting forth the precise
actions and limitations required for the achievement of the
objectives established in the declaration of purpose.
   (c) Notwithstanding the requirements of subdivision (a), the
department is not required to prepare a general plan for a unit that
has no general plan or to revise an existing plan, as the case may
be, if the only development contemplated by the department consists
of the repair, replacement, or rehabilitation of an existing
facility; the construction of a temporary facility,  so long
as such   if the  construction does not result in
the permanent commitment of a resource of the unit; any undertaking
necessary for the protection of public health or safety; or any
emergency measure necessary for the immediate protection of natural
or cultural resources; or any combination  thereof 
 of these activities  at a single unit. Any development is
subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality
Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)).
   (d)  Any   A  general plan approved
prior to July 1, 1972, may be used as the basis for development if
the director finds that there has been no significant change in the
resources of the unit since approval of the plan and that the plan is
compatible with current policies governing development of the unit
and the classification of the unit.
   (e) Consistent with good planning and sound resource management,
the department shall, in discharging its responsibilities under this
section, attempt to make units of the state park system accessible
and usable by the general public at the earliest opportunity.
   (f) The department may prepare a general plan  which
  that  includes more than one unit of the state
park system for units  which   that  are in
close proximity to one another and  which  
that  have similar resources and recreational opportunities if
that action will facilitate the protection of public resources and
public access to units of the state park system.