Article 4. Lease And Sale Of Property of California Water Code >> Division 5. >> Part 4. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 4.

The board may determine that any land acquired by the drainage district and deeded to the State for any right of way for river improvement work or flood control is in excess of what is or will be required.

The Department of General Services upon request of the board may sell the excess land at a purchase price determined upon by the board.

The Department of General Services when authorized by the board may execute and deliver in the name and on behalf of the state, a conveyance of such land to the purchaser upon payment of the purchase price to the State Treasurer.

The purchase price when paid to the State Treasurer shall be credited to such fund as the board directs.

All or any part of any land, right-of-way or easement required for any work of channel excavation, enlargement, rectification or control or for any site for the construction of any weir, forming part of or incidental to any plan approved by the state for flood control in the Sacramento or San Joaquin Valleys, which land, right-of-way or easement or weir site has been or may hereafter be acquired by the state, may, at the request of the board and with the approval of the Department of General Services, be sold to the drainage district at a purchase price equal to the cost thereof to the state, to be determined by the Department of General Services, and upon payment to the state of the purchase price, may be conveyed to the drainage district, or to the United States, as may be requested by the board.

The Department of General Services may execute and deliver pursuant to the next preceding section a conveyance in the name and on behalf of the state upon payment to the State Treasurer of the purchase price.

The purchase price, when paid to the State Treasurer, shall be credited back to the appropriation out of which the cost of acquiring the land, right of way, easement or weir site was paid by the State, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such appropriation was made.

Any lease of property of the drainage district for the production of oil, gas or other hydrocarbons may be made upon such consideration or for such royalties as may be authorized by the board subject to the provisions of this article.

The board, before ordering the lease of any property pursuant to the next preceding section, shall, in a regular open meeting, adopt a resolution declaring their intention to lease the property.

The resolution shall:
  (a) Describe the property proposed to be leased in such manner as to identify it.
  (b) Specify the minimum rental or royalty.
  (c) Specify terms upon which the property will be leased.
  (d) Fix time not less than three weeks thereafter for a public meeting of the board.

The meeting shall be held at the board's regular place of meeting, at which meeting sealed proposals to lease the property will be received and considered.

Notice of the adoption of the resolution and of the time and place for holding the meeting shall be given by publishing a notice containing the resolution not less than once a week for three successive weeks before the meeting, in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which the drainage district or any part thereof is situated.

At the time and place fixed in the resolution for the meeting of the board, all sealed proposals which have been received shall, in public session, be opened, examined and declared by the board, and of the proposals submitted which conform to all terms and conditions specified in the resolution, and which are made by responsible bidders, the one which is the highest shall be accepted.

Upon a call for oral bidding, at the session, any person may offer to lease the property upon the terms and conditions specified in the resolution for a rental or royalty exceeding by at least 5 per cent the highest of the written proposals.

The highest of any of the oral bids made by a responsible person shall be finally accepted.

The board may make a final acceptance either at the same session or at any adjourned session of the same meeting held within the 10 days next following.

The board may, at such session, if it deems the action to be for the best public interest, reject any and all bids either written or oral, and withdraw the property from lease.

The resolution of acceptance of any bid shall provide for the proper execution of a lease upon behalf of the drainage district, and delivery of the lease upon performance and compliance by the lessee of all the terms and conditions of his contract which are to be performed concurrently with the execution of the lease.

The board, in lieu of leasing property as provided in this article, if it deems such action to be for the best public interest, may lease lands for the production of oil, gas and other hydrocarbon substances therefrom jointly with the lands of an adjoining landowner.

No joint lease shall be entered into until after adoption of a resolution and publication of notice as provided in this article and after a public meeting of the board at which protests, if any, shall be heard.

A joint lease shall provide for the payment of a minimum royalty to the drainage district of not less than 15 per cent of the value of the oil, gas or other hydrocarbon substances produced from the property owned by the district.

Whenever the board has acquired or shall in the future acquire title in fee to any land in the name and in behalf of the district and whenever, in the judgment of the board, the purposes of the district will be satisfied by the retention of an easement or other interest in the land less than the title in fee thereto, the board shall take all steps necessary to sell said land reserving to said district the easement or other interest acquired for the purposes of the district. Conveyances of such land or interest therein owned by the district shall be executed by the officers of the board authorized by the board and shall be approved by the Director of General Services.

All oil, gas, oil shale, coal, phosphate, sodium, gold, silver, and all other mineral deposits in the land are reserved to the State and shall be reserved from sale except on a rental and royalty basis. A purchaser of any of the land shall acquire no right, title, or interest in or to such deposit. The right of such purchaser shall be subject to the reservation of all oil, gas, oil shale, coal, phosphate, sodium, gold, silver, and all other mineral deposits, and to the conditions and limitations prescribed by law providing for the State and persons authorized by it to prospect for, mine, and remove such deposits, and to occupy and use so much of the surface of the land as may be required for all purposes reasonably extending to the mining and removal of such deposits therefrom. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any compromise agreement entered into with respect to such land, nor to grants of such land to the United States when such grants are authorized by law.

Every lease, rental, letting or license to use real property owned in fee by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage District, which is executed by the board shall be subject to the approval of the Director of General Services.

Revenues, rents, and proceeds from sale of crops from lands under control of the board shall be paid into the State Treasury as follows:
  (a) To the current appropriation for the support of the board as an abatement of the cost of producing or disposing of crops in such amounts as may be approved by the Department of Finance.
  (b) The balance thereof to the credit of the General Fund.