Except as otherwise provided in this section and elsewhere in this chapter, all money deposited in the State Coastal Conservancy shall be available for appropriation, as provided in Section 5096.119, for the purposes set forth in this section, in a total amount not to exceed ten million dollars ($10,000,000):

(a) For restoration and enhancement of degraded coastal lands, especially habitat areas and lands near urban areas, that are suitable for intensive or passive recreational use.

(b) For the selective acquisition of prime coastal agricultural lands proposed for conversion to nonagricultural use, to prevent urban intrusions into agricultural areas and to assemble coastal agricultural lands into parcels of economic size, using appropriate techniques such as purchase and leaseback or resale of lands for productive use.

(c) For the preacquisition of lands for reconveyance to other public agencies for coastal recreational resources preservation purposes.

(d) For the selective acquisition of easements and development rights on lands adjacent to public parks or wildlife preserves on or near the coast, to establish a buffer of privately owned land for use consistent with the purposes of the park or preserve and to minimize the need for future acquisitions around existing parks and wildlife preserves.

(e) For the acquisition or acceptance of lands providing public access to and along the coast.

(f) For the costs of administration and planning.

It is the intent of the Legislature that no funds allocated in this chapter to the State Coastal Conservancy shall be expended unless and until the Legislature has enacted legislation authorizing the administration of the conservancy by an existing state agency or a new state agency and has, in such legislation, set forth the purposes, powers, and duties of such agency. If the Legislature has not assigned such authority to an existing or new state agency by January 1, 1980, the funds allocated in this chapter to the State Coastal Conservancy shall be transferred to the State, Urban, and Coastal Park Fund and shall be allocated for expenditure for the purposes specified in subdivision (c) of Section 5096.124.

It is the further intent of the Legislature that funds expended pursuant to this section may be used for acquisition of fee title to real property or any other interest in real property that is less than the fee.

(Added by Stats. 1976, Ch. 259. Approved in Proposition 2 at the November 2, 1976, election.)