Bill Text: CA AB380 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 380 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Spill response for railroads.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)

Status: (Passed) 2014-09-25 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 533, Statutes of 2014. [AB380 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB380-Amended.html

BILL NUMBER: AB 380	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 9, 2014
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 28, 2014
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 6, 2014
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 24, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Dickinson

                        FEBRUARY 14, 2013

   An act to add Article 5 (commencing with Section 25547) to Chapter
6.95 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to
hazardous materials.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 380, as amended, Dickinson. Spill response for railroads.
    Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to
implement regulations establishing minimum standards for business
plans and area plans relating to the handling and release or
threatened release of hazardous materials. Existing law requires the
establishment of a statewide environmental reporting system for these
plans.
   This bill would require a rail carrier, as defined, to report
specified information regarding the transportation of hazardous
materials, beginning no later than January 31, 2015, to the office on
a quarterly basis. The bill would require each rail carrier to
maintain a response management communications center, as specified.
The bill would require the office to disseminate  relevant
 information  necessary for developing emergency
response plans  from the quarterly reports it receives pursuant
to this act to each unified program agency, as defined, when the
office determines a unified program agency area of responsibility may
be impacted by a hazardous material or oil cargo spill. The bill
would require each rail carrier to provide the office with a summary
of the rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency response plan, as
specified. The bill would require the office to provide a copy of
each summary report of a rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency
response plan to each unified program agency when the office
determines a unified program agency area of responsibility may be
impacted by a rail carrier spill of hazardous material or oil cargo
and that unified program agency has been identified by the rail
carrier, in consultation with the office, as able to receive security
sensitive information, as specified, on a need-to-know basis. The
bill would prohibit a recipient of the reports and hazardous
materials emergency response plan from divulging or making known that
information to unauthorized recipients, as specified. The bill would
exempt the reports and hazardous materials emergency response plan
from the California Public Records Act.
   Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that
limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the
writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings
demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need
for protecting that interest.
   This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Article 5 (commencing with Section 25547) is added to
Chapter 6.95 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

      Article 5.  Spill Prevention and Response for Railroads


   25547.  For purposes of this article, the following terms have the
following meanings:
   (a) "Hazardous material" means a substance or material that the
United States Secretary of Transportation has determined to be
capable of posing an unreasonable risk to the health, safety, and
property of residents when transported in commerce and has been
designated as hazardous pursuant to Section 5103 of Title 49 of the
United States Code. Hazardous material includes hazardous substances,
as defined in Section 25501, hazardous wastes, marine pollutants,
elevated temperature materials, materials designated as hazardous in
Section 172.101 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and
materials that meet the defining criteria for hazard classes and
divisions in Part 173 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

   (b) "Office" means the Office of Emergency Services.
   (c) "Oil" has the same meaning as in Section 8670.3 of the
Government Code.
   (d) "Rail carrier" means a person providing common carrier
railroad transportation for compensation, but does not include
street, suburban, or interurban electric railways not operated as
part of the general system of rail transportation.
   25547.2.  (a) No later than January 31, 2015, and every three
months thereafter, a rail carrier shall submit to the office
commodity flow data for the prior three months broken down by county
and track route relevant to the 25 largest hazardous material
commodities transported through the state, including tank cars loaded
with oil cargo. The commodity flow data shall conform to all of the
following:
   (1) Be in accordance with Subpart G of Part 172 of Title 49 of the
Code of Federal Regulations and in Standard Transportation Commodity
Code numeric sequence.
   (2) Include a description of the hazardous material or oil cargo
and commodity name organized by number of carload type, including
tank cars and gondola cars, intermodal loads, including trailers,
containers and tank containers, and total loads transported within a
county over the prior three months.
   (3) Be encrypted and stamped as security sensitive information
material, as identified pursuant to Section 15.5 of Part 15 of Title
49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
   (b) The office shall disseminate  relevant 
information  necessary for developing emergency response plans
 from the quarterly reports prepared pursuant to this section in
whole or in summary form to a unified program agency, as defined in
Section 25501, when the office determines a unified program agency
area of responsibility may be impacted by a hazardous material or oil
cargo spill. Rail carriers shall provide additional information to
the  office, as necessary,   office related to
the specific commodity flow data,  to assist a unified program
agency with its emergency  response.   response
planning. 
   25547.4.  Each rail carrier shall maintain a response management
communications center, which shall provide real-time information to
an authorized public safety answering point or 911 emergency response
center about the train consist involved in a hazardous material or
oil cargo spill or other critical incident, including, but not
limited to, both of the following:
   (a) Hazardous material movement shipping papers, including a way
bill or total trace, detailing the hazardous material or oil cargo.
   (b) Information that can assist the primary local public safety
agency in containing and safely removing a hazardous material spill.
   25547.6.  (a) Each rail carrier shall provide the office with a
summary of the rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency response
plan. The hazardous materials emergency response plan shall not be
posted on a public Internet Web site or be subject to public agency
or public review and approval processes.
   (b) The office shall provide a copy of each summary report of a
rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency response plan to each
unified program agency, as defined in Section 25501, when the office
determines a unified program agency area of responsibility may be
impacted by a rail carrier spill of hazardous material or oil cargo
and that unified program agency has been identified by the rail
carrier, in consultation with the office, as able to receive security
sensitive information, as identified pursuant to Section 15.5 of
Part 15 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, on a
need-to-know basis.
   25547.8.  (a) A recipient of the reports and plans provided
pursuant to Sections 25547.2 and 25547.6 shall not divulge or make
known that information to unauthorized recipients, including, but not
limited to, individuals or organizations not legally authorized to
engage in emergency planning and response activities.
   (b)  The reports and plans provided pursuant to Sections 25547.2
and 25547.6 shall be exempt from the California Public Records Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1
of the Government Code), except that the office may authorize
disclosure if, in the discretion of the office, disclosure relevant
to a particular shipment is necessary to provide for its safe
transport through the state.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this
act, which adds Section 25547.8 to the Health and Safety Code,
imposes a limitation on the public's right of access to the meetings
of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies
within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California
Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the
Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest
protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that
interest:
   In order to provide for the safe transport of hazardous materials
through the state and to avoid creating a transportation security
risk, it is in the state's interest to limit public access to this
information.