(a) Within 240 days of the execution of a memorandum of agreement pursuant to Section 8722, the commission shall prepare and submit to the United States Secretary of the Interior a proposal for land exchanges that consolidate school land parcels in the California desert into contiguous holdings that are suitable for large-scale renewable energy-related projects. In developing the proposal, the commission shall give priority to land exchanges that will facilitate the development of large-scale renewable energy projects.

(b) The commission’s proposal shall be based on an acre-for-acre exchange with the United States. If the United States is not authorized to enter into such an agreement, the commission may propose an exchange based on equivalent appraised values.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission may withhold a school land parcel from an exchange proposal or request additional consideration from the United States Secretary of the Interior if the commission reasonably believes, based on existing and reliable information, that an acre-for-acre exchange would not provide the state with compensation that is equal to or greater than the fair market value of the school land parcel. For the purposes of this subdivision, the commission shall consider the potential renewable energy value of a parcel the commission would receive in the exchange.

(d) In preparing the land exchange proposal, the commission shall consult with the Department of Fish and Game to identify areas in the California desert that would be consistent with the proposed or adopted provisions of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan and are either of the following:

(1) Suitable for renewable energy projects because the identified areas do not support habitat or habitat corridor values for species listed as threatened, endangered, or candidate species pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code) or the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.), that, in the judgment of the Department of Fish and Game, are sufficient to warrant consideration of their designation as a mitigation or conservation area for these species.

(2) Suitable as potential mitigation areas to mitigate the impacts that renewable energy-related projects may have on the environment.

(e) The commission’s costs and expenses attributable to the land exchange process may be payable from the fund. Notwithstanding Section 6217.5, a portion of the revenues generated from renewable energy leases pursuant to this chapter shall be made available to the commission, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the commission’s costs attributable to the land exchange process.

(f) The commission may consider counter land exchange proposals from the United States Secretary of the Interior and make additional proposals to the extent that the additional proposals achieve the goals set forth in this chapter.

(g) Final approval of a land exchange proposed pursuant to this chapter shall be made by the commission at a properly noticed commission meeting.

(Added by Stats. 2011, Ch. 485, Sec. 2. (AB 982) Effective January 1, 2012.)