Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund

Division 1, Chapter 4 of the California Harbors and Navigation Code deals with the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund.

Section 85 specifies that all money received by the department, including any moneys received by the department from the purchase or condemnation by any other person or agency of any property acquired by the department for the purposes of this division, is to be deposited in the State Treasury and credited to the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund, which fund is was created by this section.

The Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund is the successor to the Small Craft Harbor Revolving Fund, which fund was abolished. All references in any law to the Small Craft Harbor Revolving Fund refer to the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund.

Section 85.2 states that all moneys in the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditure by the Department of Parks and Recreation for boating facilities development, boating safety, and boating regulation programs, and for expenditure for construction of small craft harbor and boating facilities planned, designed, and constructed by the division at sites owned or under the control of the state.

The money in the fund is also available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the operation and maintenance of units of the state park system that have boating-related activities. Funds appropriated may also be used for boating safety and enforcement programs. The Department of Parks and Recreation is required to submit to the Legislature an annual report describing the allocation and expenditure of funds made available to the Department of Parks and Recreation from the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving. The report has to contain specified information.

Section 86 requires the local public agency to annually certify to the department that for a small craft harbor or boating facility project has adequate restroom and sanitary facilities, parking, refuse disposal, vessel pumpout facilities, walkways, oil recycling facilities, receptacles for the purpose of separating, reusing, or recycling all solid waste materials, and other necessary shoreside facilities sufficient for the use and operation of all vessels using the harbor or facility are provided or provide written findings showing why the facility cannot certify to these conditions.

A city or county that has received funds under this division cannot prohibit the commercial operation and use of those facilities by commercial passenger fishing vessels of the same or similar displacement, or the use by private recreational vessels, unless the city, county, or district provides, elsewhere in the same harbor, alternative, equivalent facilities available at comparable cost. The phrase “alternative, equivalent facility in the same harbor” is explained.

The small craft harbor or boating facility must be designed, constructed, developed, improved, and operated to meet, at a minimum, applicable certification standards described in the Tier 1 standards of the California Green Building Standards Code.

Section 87 requires the department to give consideration for funding the planning, construction, development, or improvement of small craft harbors to projects which are financially feasible and which make existing small craft harbors, which are subject to the jurisdiction of the department, substantially meet the provisions of law.

Section 88 specifies that a small craft harbor or boating facility funded under specified provisions is not liable for any damages which occur on a vessel using those facilities or pursuant to operation of the vessel, other than on the facilities of the harbor or boating facility. This section does not provide immunity from liability for a small craft harbor or boating facility for its negligent acts.