english. the elements of a paragraph make up a whole and all elements pertain to that whole. also in procedment (one thing after another)
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB637
SB-637. SEC 2 5653(a) and SEC 3 13172.5.(a); states the first thing as "vacuum or suction dredge" //"implying" power jets/infinities(vacuum) and venturies suction heads(suction){powered with an engine/motor gas/elec}.
nowhere is the terms "high banker" or "power sluice" used. why would the lawmakers put this "or" that if they weren't being specific?
the statement; "or the processing of" isn't just in the same paragraph it's also in the same sentence. everything must be taken together.
also the state can not arbitrarily define something. eg. they can't define a cat as a dog. a dredge is a dredge. or one thing as many things(involving pronouns).
anything that floats on the water falls under boating laws;
http://www.dbw.ca.gov/PDF/LawEnforc/2012CBL.pdf
their effect on the water goes under water laws;
CALIFORNIA WATER CODE
this also includes laws on pumping water.
whether a vessel must be registered is defined by the state;
California Boat Registration Instructions | DMV.org
if it's small and it's not propelled by the motor it carries than it is the equivalent of a canoe.
you may dig within the high water line,(the creek or river itself including gravel bars).
you can not undercut a bank. from above the high water line, 300 ft away is off limits. past that is fair game.
any water you pump must be returned to the waterway as clean as it was taken.
you don't have to worry about this if the material came from within the high water line. (obviously if you weren't aloud to you wouldn't be able to dirty the water by panning such material)
regulations do not define laws, laws define regulations.
I would also advise people start using the term "power sluice" instead of "high banker". "high banking" is a type of mining implying mining high up a bank. a power sluice it the tool used in the practice and therefore dubbed the "high banker".
also get a video recorder or 3. and record everything you do and what any agents or LEO does. a lense can be far more powerful than a gun.
more to the point of the other poster we complain because we should and have an obligation to create awareness about the insanity and profits being made in these misguided crackdowns being done under the guise of environmentalism!
