SB831 - Geologic hazards: California Geological Survey.

Senate Bill No. 831 CHAPTER 236 An act to amend Sections 670, 2009, 2201, 2205, 2205.1, 2207.1, 2208, 2622, 2694, 2695, 2696, 2703, 4123, 4584, 4584.1, 4584.2, 4604, and 4629 of, and to repeal Sections 2209, 2210, and 2211 of, the Public Resources Code, relating to public resources. [ Approved by Governor October 01, 2025. Filed with Secretary of State October 01, 2025. ] LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 831, Limón. Geologic hazards: California Geological Survey. Existing law establishes the California Geological Survey in the Department of Conservation, the Director of Conservation, the State Geologist, and the State Mining and Geology Board and sets forth the duties of these entities in connection with the mineral resources, mineral industries, and geology of the state, including assessments of geologic hazards. Existing law makes the department the primary state agency responsible for review and investigation of geologic hazards, including, but not limited to, the strong motion aspects of earthquake and any geologic hazards that may occur in relation to natural disasters. This bill would expand the duties of the department to review and investigate geologic hazards to specifically include geologic hazards that may occur in relation to climate change and make other related changes. Existing law authorizes the director to fix a price upon and dispose of to the public all publications of the survey and requires that all money received by the survey from sales of publications issued by the survey be deposited at least once each month in the State Treasury to the credit of the General Fund. This bill would repeal those provisions. Existing law requires the State Geologist to compile maps delineating earthquake fault zones, or identifying seismic hazard zones, as applicable, and to submit those maps, as provided, for board review. Within 90 days of board review, existing law requires the State Geologist to take specified actions with respect to those maps, including providing copies of the maps to state and local entities, as described. This bill would instead require the State Geologist to revise the maps and provide copies of the official maps within 90 days after the comment period concludes. Existing law authorizes a manufacturer or processor, upon request, to report to the State Geologist data on consumption or utilization of mineral materials. Existing law requires those reports to be confidential. This bill would instead require these reports to be maintained by the department as confidential if appropriately identified as confidential by the submitting entity. Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, when selecting a fuel reduction project, to collaborate with the State Water Resources Control Board and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California regional water quality control boards, and the State Water Resources Control Board, if accompanied by Department of Forestry and Fire Protection personnel and after 24-hour advance notification is given to the landowner, to enter and inspect land during normal business hours at any time after commencement of timber harvest plan activities on the land, as provided. This bill would additionally require collaboration and consultation with, and extend that authorization to enter and inspect land to, the survey, under those circumstances. This bill would also make clarifying, conforming, and nonsubstantive changes. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 670 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 670. The board may appoint an executive officer who shall be exempt from civil service. The board may also employ the clerical assistance necessary for the proper discharge of its duties. Neither the board nor its employees shall have or be given any powers in relation to the administration of the division. SEC. 2. Section 2009 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 2009. “Geologic hazard” means a geologic condition that is a potential danger to life and property. Geologic hazards include, but are not limited to, earthquake, landslide, mineral hazards, postfire debris flow, subsidence, coastal and inland erosion, expansive soil, fault displacement, and volcanic eruption. SEC. 3. Section 2201 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 2201. The department is the primary state agency responsible for review and investigation of geologic hazards, as defined in Section 2009, including, but not limited to, the strong motion aspects of earthquake and any geologic hazards that may occur in relation to natural disasters and climate change. In this capacity, the survey shall carry out activities and programs to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the environment by mitigating geologic hazards. Specific activities to be carried out by the survey include, but are not limited to, all of the following: (a) Hazard assessment, including identification and mapping of geologic hazards and estimates of their potential consequences to life, property, and the environment, and the likelihood of occurrence. (b) Information and advisory services, including the maintenance of a geologic library, a public education program, maintenance of a statewide surface and subsurface geologic database, review functions, and expert consulting. (c) Emergency response to geologic hazards, including, but not limited to, those related to natural disasters, including the monitoring and assessment of anomalous geologic activity, and the operation of a clearinghouse for postevent earth science investigations. (d) Development and application of mitigation methods, including identifying state research needs, facilitating needed research, and expediting the application of new research results to public policy and all survey activities related to geologic hazards and the effects of climate change on geologic hazards. SEC. 4. Section 2205 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 2205. The State Geologist may do all of the following: (a) Make, facilitate, and encourage special studies of the mineral resources, mineral industries, geology, and geologic hazards in the state. (b) Collect statistics concerning the occurrence and production of the economically important minerals and the methods pursued in making their valuable constituents available for commercial use. (c) Conduct and provide technical assistance to public and private entities, including for geological investigations, studies, and other activities for purposes that include, but are not limited to, the timely identification, delineation, and assessment of geologic hazards and their potential consequences. (d) Identify and delineate deposits of mineral raw materials in order to prevent their loss to urban encroachment and to assist in their ultimate utilization; and enter into, as the need arises, cooperative agreements, for geological or mineral industry investigations, with public and private entities that may provide for cost sharing or cooperative funding. (e) Maintain a laboratory, including a mineral, rock, and core repository, for use by survey staff and to conduct other investigations in the line of physical and chemical testing and analysis and mineral identification as may be required in the execution of the plans and operations of the survey under this chapter. (f) Issue from time to time reports and maps concerning geologic and mineral hazards in the state and the statistics and technology of the mineral industries of the state, including the results of investigations in mineral resources conservation practices; the use and recycling of scrap mineral products; the control, disposal, reclamation, and utilization of mining and mineral processing waste products; and the reclamation of mined lands. (g) Conduct investigations in mining and metallurgy, including the use and recycling of scrap mineral products and land use practices as these apply to mineral resources conservation, and enter into, as the need arises, cooperative or contractual agreements for those investigations that may provide for cost sharing or cooperative funding. (h) Conduct investigations in the study and development of methods for the control, disposal, reclamation, and utilization of mining and mineral processing waste products and the reclamation of mined lands, and enter into, as the need arises, cooperative or contractual agreements for those investigations that may provide for cost sharing or cooperative funding. (i) Enter into, as the need arises, agreements, including, but not limited to, contracts, grant agreements, and cooperative agreements, that may provide funding or operational support for activities of the survey and for the activities of the department that are directly related to the activities of the survey. Activities that may be funded include, but are not limited to, technical, analytic, and research services related to geologic hazards and resources that the survey may provide directly to those entities. SEC. 5. Section 2205.1 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 2205.1. Division 1 (commencing with Section 500) and this division shall not be construed as abridging the authorized geologic functions of other state agencies. SEC. 6. Section 2207.1 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 2207.1. A manufacturer or processor may report to the State Geologist data on consumption or utilization of mineral materials. Those reports, if appropriately identified as confidential by the submitting entity, shall be maintained by the department as confidential. Publications issued as commodity or marketing studies pursuant to Section 2205 may contain figures from those reports, provided that these figures are presented so as not to disclose the consumption or utilization of minerals by any user. SEC. 7. Section 2208 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 2208. The department may at any time enter or examine any and all mines, quarries, wells, mills, reduction works, refining works, and other mineral properties or working plants in this state in order to gather data to comply with this chapter. SEC. 8. Section 2209 of the Public Resources Code is repealed. SEC. 9. Section 2210 of the Public Resources Code is repealed. SEC. 10. Section 2211 of the Public Resources Code is repealed. SEC. 11. Section 2622 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 2622. (a) In order to assist cities and counties in their planning, zoning, and building-regulation functions, the State Geologist shall delineate appropriately wide earthquake fault zones to encompass all potentially and recently active traces of the San Andreas, Calaveras, Hayward, and San Jacinto Faults, and such other faults, or segments thereof, as the State Geologist determines to be sufficiently active and well-defined as to constitute a potential hazard to structures from surface faulting or fault creep. The earthquake fault zones shall ordinarily be one-quarter mile or less in width, except in circumstances which may require the State Geologist to designate a wider zone. (b) Pursuant to this section, the State Geologist shall compile maps delineating the earthquake fault zones and shall submit those maps to all affected cities, counties, and state agencies for review and comment. Concerned jurisdictions and agencies shall submit all comments to the board for review and consideration within 90 days. Within 90 days after the comment period concludes, the State Geologist shall provide copies of the official maps to concerned state agencies and to each city or county having jurisdiction over lands lying within that zone. (c) The State Geologist shall continually review new geologic and seismic data and shall revise the earthquake fault zones or delineate additional earthquake fault zones when warranted by new information. The State Geologist shall submit all revised maps and additional maps to all affected cities, counties, and state agencies for their review and comment. Concerned jurisdictions and agencies shall submit all comments to the board for review and consideration within 90 days. Within 90 days after the comment period concludes, the State Geologist shall provide copies of the revised and additional official maps to concerned state agencies and to each city or county having jurisdiction over lands lying within the earthquake fault zone. (d) In order to ensure that sellers of real property and their agents are adequately informed, any county that receives an official map pursuant to this section shall post a notice within five days of receipt of the map at the offices of the county recorder, county assessor, and county planning commission, identifying the location of the map and the effective date of the notice. SEC. 12. Section 2694 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 2694. (a) A person who is acting as an agent for a transferor of real property that is located within a seismic hazard zone, as designated under this chapter, or the transferor, if the person is acting without an agent, shall disclose to any prospective transferee the fact that the property is located within a seismic hazard zone. (b) Disclosure is required pursuant to this section only when one of the following conditions is met: (1) The transferor, or transferor’s agent, has actual knowledge that the property is within a seismic hazard zone. (2) A map that includes the property has been provided to the city or county pursuant to Section 2696, and a notice has been posted at the offices of the county recorder, county assessor, and county planning agency that identifies the location of the map and any information regarding changes to the map received by the county. (c) In all transactions that are subject to Section 1103 of the Civil Code, the disclosure required by subdivision (a) of this section shall be provided by either of the following means: (1) The Local Option Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement as provided in Section 1102.6a of the Civil Code. (2) The Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement as provided in Section 1103.2 of the Civil Code. (d) If the map or accompanying information is not of sufficient accuracy or scale that a reasonable person can determine if the subject real property is included in a seismic hazard zone, the agent shall mark “Yes” on the Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement. The agent may mark “No” on the Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement if the person attaches a report prepared pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1103.4 of the Civil Code that verifies the property is not in the hazard zone. Nothing in this subdivision is intended to limit or abridge any existing duty of the transferor or the transferor’s agents to exercise reasonable care in making a determination under this subdivision. (e) For purposes of t [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]