Oil and gas wells: hazardous or idle-deserted wells and facilities.
(1) Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities related to oil and gas production within an oil and gas field, so as to prevent damage to life, health, property, and natural resources. Under existing law, the current operator, or the previous operator, as provided, as determined by the records of the supervisor, of a deserted well that produced oil, gas, or other hydrocarbons or was used for injection is responsible for the proper plugging and abandonment of the well or the decommissioning of deserted production facilities. If the supervisor determines that the current operator does not have the financial resources to fully cover the cost of plugging and abandoning the well or the decommissioning of deserted production facilities, existing law requires the immediately preceding operator to be responsible for the cost of plugging and abandoning the well or the decommissioning of deserted production facilities.
us/states/ca
California Legislature
20212022
SB 84
California SB 84 (20212022)
bill
Oil and gas wells: hazardous or idle-deserted wells and facilities.
California SB 84 (20212022) — Oil and gas wells: hazardous or idle-deserted wells and facilities.
(1) Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities related to oil and gas production within an oil and gas field, so as to prevent damage to life, health, property, and natural resources. Under existing law, the current operator, or the previous operator, as provided, as determined by the records of the supervisor, of a deserted well that produced oil, gas, or other hydrocarbons or was used for injection is responsible for the proper plugging and abandonment of the well or the decommissioning of deserted production facilities. If the supervisor determines that the current operator does not have the financial resources to fully cover the cost of plugging and abandoning the well or the decommissioning of deserted production facilities, existing law requires the immediately preceding operator to be responsible for the cost of plugging and abandoning the well or the decommissioning of deserted production facilities.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
SB 84 Hurtado Senate Third Reading By Salas — 66–0 (pass) · lower
3rd Reading — 31–3 (pass) · upper
Unfinished Business SB84 Hurtado Concurrence — 35–0 (pass) · upper
Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 7–1 (pass) · upper
Do pass. — 14–0 (pass) · lower
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 11–0 (pass) · lower
Sponsors
Hurtado — primary (person)
Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
2020-12-15 Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. introduction
2020-12-16 From printer. May be acted upon on or after January 15.
2021-01-11 Read first time. reading-1
2021-01-28 Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. referral-committee
2021-02-17 Set for hearing March 16.
2021-03-22 From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 1. Page 519.) (March 16). amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-03-23 Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
2021-03-25 Set for hearing April 5.
2021-04-05 From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. committee-passage, reading-2
2021-04-06 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
2021-04-29 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 31. Noes 3. Page 974.) Ordered to the Assembly. passage, reading-1, reading-3
2021-04-29 In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. reading-1
2021-05-13 Referred to Com. on NAT. RES. referral-committee
2021-06-02 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on NAT. RES. amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
2021-06-09 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
2021-06-30 June 30 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
2021-08-26 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (August 26). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-08-30 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
2021-09-03 Read third time and amended. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3
2021-09-03 Ordered to third reading.
2021-09-07 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 66. Noes 0. Page 2818.) Ordered to the Senate. passage, reading-1, reading-3
2021-09-07 In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
2021-09-08 Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 2533.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-09-13 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
2021-10-09 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
2021-10-09 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 758, Statutes of 2021. became-law
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/b7c1e778-8aae-40b9-9b09-377ecb882655. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).
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