KAMALA D. HARRIS Attorney General
SARA J. RUSSELL Deputy Attorney General
AGO 14-1206
No. 14-1206
California Attorney General Opinions
Office of the Attorney General State of California
December 30, 2016
THE
HONORABLE STACEY SIMON, MONO COUNTY COUNSEL, has requested an
opinion on the following question:
Must
the California Department of Transportation pay fees to cover
Mono County's costs for (1) inspecting, and preparing a
report on, the Department's surface mining operations as
required by the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act, and (2)
performing other duties under the Act?
CONCLUSION
The
California Department of Transportation (1) must pay fees to
cover Mono County's costs for inspecting, and preparing a
report on, the Department's surface mining operations as
required by the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act, but (2)
is exempt from paying fees for the other duties Mono County
is required to perform under the Act.
ANALYSIS
The
Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) establishes state
policy for regulating surface mining
operations.1 SMARA requires every surface mining
operation to undergo an annual inspection and to have a
permit, a reclamation plan, and financial assurances to
effectuate the reclamation plan.[2] The primary responsibility for
implementing these requirements lies with "lead
agencies," which are usually cities or
counties.[3]
To cover its reasonable costs incurred in implementing the
Act, a lead agency "may impose a fee upon each mining
operation."4
Mono
County is a lead agency under SMARA, and it charges fees to
mining operators to recover its implementation costs. One
such operator is the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans), which operates gravel pits from which aggregate
is mined for highway construction and maintenance projects.
The question presented for our analysis is whether Caltrans,
as a public agency, is exempt from paying SMARA fees to Mono
County.
Public
Agency Exemption from Public Fees Generally
Government
Code section 6103 exempts public agencies from paying fees
for official services performed by another public agency
unless a statute "specifically provides
otherwise."5
We have
previously determined that the term "official
service" refers to the performance by a public agency of
a duty imposed by law.6 Thus the duties required of a lead
agency under SMARA constitute "official services,"
and section 6103 exempts Caltrans from paying fees to Mono
County for those services unless some provision in
SMARA's statutory scheme specifically provides
otherwise.7
In
examining SMARA to determine whether it creates an exception
to section 6103, we use settled principles of statutory
construction. "[The] first task in construing a statute
is to ascertain the intent of the Legislature so as to
effectuate the purpose of the law. In determining such
intent, [we] look first to the words of the statute
themselves, giving to the language its usual, ordinary import
and according significance, if possible, to every word,
phrase and sentence in pursuance of the legislative purpose.
A construction making some words surplusage is to be avoided.
The words of the statute must be construed in context,
keeping in mind the statutory purpose, and statutes or
statutory sections relating to the same subject must be
harmonized, both internally and with each other, to the
extent possible."8 "If there is no ambiguity in the
language, we presume the Legislature meant what it said and
the plain meaning of the statute governs."[9]
Fees
for Inspecting and Reporting on a Public Agency's Mining
Operation
With
respect to fees charged by a lead agency to inspect and
prepare a report on a public agency's mining operation,
we find that the plain language of SMARA creates an exception
to section 6103's general...
