Bill Text: CA SB667 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Railroads: safety: report.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Engrossed) 2026-08-13 - Read second time. Ordered to third reading. [SB667 Detail]

Download: California-2025-SB667-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  June 03, 2026

Amended  IN  Senate  January 22, 2026

Amended  IN  Senate  January 05, 2026

Amended  IN  Senate  April 29, 2025

Amended  IN  Senate  April 08, 2025

Amended  IN  Senate  March 24, 2025

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 667

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Introduced by Senator Archuleta

February 20, 2025

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An act to add Section 7615 to amend Section 916.2 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 667, as amended, Archuleta. Railroads: safety: wayside detectors. report.

Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to annually report to the Legislature on sites on railroad lines in the state that the commission finds to be hazardous, including a list of all railroad sites in the state that it determines pose a local safety hazard. Existing law authorizes the commission to submit in the annual report the list of railroad sites submitted in the immediate prior year annual report, and to amend or revise that list from the immediate prior year as necessary. In determining which railroad sites pose a local safety hazard, existing law requires the commission to consider, among other things, whether any local safety hazards at railroad sites have been eliminated or sufficiently remediated to warrant removal of the site from the list.

This bill would require the commission, on or before July 1, 2029, to review the list of railroad sites and, in the annual report, to include an evaluation of each site on the list and determine whether changes in conditions, operations, or safety data warrant the removal, modification, or addition of any site.

The existing Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) authorizes the United States Secretary of Transportation to prescribe regulations and issue orders for railroad safety and requires the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, when prescribing a security regulation or issuing a security order that affects the safety of railroad operations, to consult with the United States Secretary of Transportation. The FRSA provides for state participation in the enforcement of the safety regulations and orders issued by the United States Secretary of Transportation or the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, pursuant to an annual certification, and authorizes the respective secretaries to make an agreement with a state to provide investigative and surveillance activities. The FRSA provides that, to the extent practicable, laws, regulations, and orders related to railroad safety and security are required to be nationally uniform, but authorizes a state to adopt or continue in force a law, regulation, or order related to railroad safety or security until the United States Secretary of Transportation, with respect to railroad safety matters, or the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, with respect to railroad security matters, prescribes a regulation or issues an order covering the subject matter of the state requirement. A state is additionally authorized to adopt or continue in force an additional or more stringent law, regulation, or order related to railroad safety or security, when necessary to eliminate or reduce an essentially local safety or security hazard, that is not incompatible with a federal law, regulation, or order, and that does not unreasonably burden interstate commerce.

This bill would require a railroad corporation to install and operate a network of wayside detector systems on or adjacent to any track used by a freight train, require that each wayside detector system include a hot wheel bearing detector, and prescribe the maximum spacing for individual detection devices along a continuous track. The bill would define “wayside detector system” to mean an electronic device or series of connected devices that scans passing freight trains and their component equipment and parts for defects. The bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to adopt rules and processes to implement these provisions, including a penalty of not less than $25,000 for violating these provisions, as provided. The bill would not apply to a class II or class III carrier that has a speed limit of 10 miles per hour or less.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 916.2 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

916.2.

 (a) The commission shall annually report to the Legislature, on or before July 1, on sites on railroad lines in the state it finds to be hazardous. The report shall include, but not be limited to, information on all of the following:

(a)

(1) A list of all railroad derailment accident sites in the state on which accidents have occurred within at least the previous five years. The list shall describe the nature and probable causes of the accidents, if known, and shall indicate whether the accidents occurred at or near sites that the commission has determined, pursuant to subdivision (b), paragraph (2), pose a local safety hazard.

(b)

(2) A list of all railroad sites in the state that the commission determines, pursuant to Section 20106 of Title 49 of the United States Code, pose a local safety hazard. The commission may submit in the annual report the list of railroad sites submitted in the immediate prior year annual report, and may amend or revise that list from the immediate prior year as necessary. Factors that the commission shall consider in determining a local safety hazard may include, but need not be limited to, all of the following:

(1)

(A) The severity of grade and curve of track.

(2)

(B) The value of special skills of train operators in negotiating the particular segment of railroad line.

(3)

(C) The value of special railroad equipment in negotiating the particular segment of railroad line.

(4)

(D) The types of commodities transported on or near the particular segment of railroad line.

(5)

(E) The hazard posed by the release of the commodity into the environment.

(6)

(F) The value of special railroad equipment in the process of safely loading, transporting, storing, or unloading potentially hazardous commodities.

(7)

(G) The proximity of railroad activity to human activity or sensitive environmental areas.

(8)

(H) A list of the root causes and significant contributing factors of all train accidents or derailments investigated.

(c)

(b) (1) In determining which railroad sites pose a local safety hazard pursuant to subdivision (b), paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), the commission shall consider the history of accidents at or near the sites. The commission shall not limit its determination to sites at which accidents have already occurred, but shall identify potentially hazardous sites based on the criteria enumerated in subdivision (b) paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) and all other criteria that the commission determines influence railroad safety. The commission shall also consider whether any local safety hazards at railroad sites have been eliminated or sufficiently remediated to warrant removal of the site from the list required under subdivision (b). paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).

(2) On or before July 1, 2029, the commission shall review the list of railroad sites identified pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a). In reviewing these sites, the commission shall, in the report required pursuant to this section, include an evaluation of each site on the list and determine whether changes in conditions, operations, or safety data warrant the removal, modification, or addition of any site.

(d)

(c) The commission may combine the information required to be reported by this section with the report prepared pursuant to Section 916.

SECTION 1.Section 7615 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

7615.

(a)For purposes of this section, “wayside detector system” means an electronic device or a series of connected devices that scan passing freight trains and their component equipment and parts for defects, which may include, but are not limited to, hot wheel bearings, hot wheels, defective bearings that are detected through acoustics, dragging equipment, excessive height or weight, shifted loads, low hoses, excessive rail temperature, and poor wheel condition.

(b)A railroad corporation shall install and operate a network of wayside detector systems on or adjacent to any track that is used by a freight train. Each wayside detector system shall include a hot wheel bearing detector and be located no farther from the following distances from another wayside detector system on a continuous track:

(1)For a class I carrier railroad, no farther than 10 miles.

(2)For a class II carrier railroad, no farther than 25 miles.

(3)For a class III carrier railroad, no farther than 35 miles.

(c)If a freight train is operating on a track between wayside detector systems that do not comply with the spacing requirements of subdivision (b), then it shall not travel faster than 10 miles per hour and may only travel faster than 10 miles per hour after it passes a wayside detector system that is in compliance with the spacing requirements of subdivision (b) and has received a message from the wayside detector system indicating that there are no defects.

(d)The commission shall adopt rules and processes to implement this section. The rules and processes shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(1)Minimum requirements for the wayside detector systems applicable to railroad corporations in the state and a process for railroad corporations to submit their wayside detector systems to the commission for review and approval.

(2)A process for freight train crews to receive alerts from wayside detector systems and standards for freight train inspections to be conducted following the receipt of an alert from a wayside detector system, including the obligation of a railroad corporation to ensure that railroad employees are aware of these standards.

(3)A penalty of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each violation of this section by a railroad corporation.

(e)This section shall not apply to a railroad track owned or leased by a class II or class III carrier that has a speed limit of 10 miles per hour or less.