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

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

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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

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BILL NUMBER: AB 380	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	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  amend Sections 8670.31 and 8670.35 of the
Government Code, and to  add Article 5 (commencing with
Section 25547) to Chapter 6.95 of Division 20 of the Health and
Safety Code, relating to  oil spills   hazardous
materials  .


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 380, as amended, Dickinson.  Oil spills: oil spill
prevention and response.   Spill response for railroads.
 
   (1) The Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response
Act generally requires the administrator for oil spill response,
acting at the direction of the Governor, to implement activities
relating to oil spill response. Existing law directs the Governor to
require the administrator to amend, not in conflict with the National
Contingency Plan, the California oil spill contingency plan to add a
marine oil spill contingency planning section containing specified
elements, including an environmentally and ecologically sensitive
areas element. Existing law also requires the administrator to adopt
and implement regulations governing the adequacy of oil spill
contingency plans to be prepared and implemented. Existing law
authorizes a local government with jurisdiction over or adjacent to
marine waters, as defined, to apply for a grant from the Oil Spill
Prevention and Administration Fund to complete, update, or revise an
oil spill contingency plan element.  
   This bill would require the administrator to post each oil spill
contingency plan it receives on its Internet Web site for public
review and would require the administrator to solicit public comment.
 
    This bill instead would require the administrator to offer grants
to a local government with jurisdiction over or directly adjacent to
surface waters within the boundaries of the state to complete,
update, or revise an oil spill contingency plan element and to train
personnel to administer and implement the oil spill contingency plan
element.  
   (2) Existing 
    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  the operator of the railroad
  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  monthly   quarterly  basis
 when a railroad transports rail cargo that includes oil or
oil products, as defined  . The bill would require 
a railroad transporting oil and oil products in this state 
 each rail carrier  to maintain a response management
communications  center to be available 24 hours each day for
the purpose of communicating with the 911 emergency response centers
of primary local public safety agencies that respond to or are on the
scene of a railroad-involved hazardous spill or critical
railroad-involved incident. The bill would require every refinery
operating in the state that receives one or more deliveries of oil
and oil products that have been transported by railroad report
specified information to the office on a monthly basis. 
 center, as specified.  The bill would require the office to
 provide a copy of each report   disseminate
relevant information 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  oil and oil product cargo
transported by a railroad and to maintain those reports in a
specified manner  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 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, to assist a unified program agency with its
emergency response.
   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.  All matter omitted in this version of the bill
appears in the bill as amended in the Senate, May 6, 2014. (JR11)