BILL ANALYSIS AB 1888 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 1888 (Ma) - As Amended: April 5, 2010 Policy Committee: TransportationVote:13-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No SUMMARY This bill waives pilotage service charges for certain types of vessels and exempts mega yachts from pilotage requirements. Specifically, this bill: 1)Exempts from pilotage fees and surcharges noncommercial vessels that are maritime academy training vessels and vessels owned and operated by nonprofit museums or foundations. 2)Increases the size of recreational vessels, from 300 gross tons to 750 gross tons, for which bar pilot services are not required. 3)Requires bar pilots to include the amount of fees and surcharges not collected from training and nonprofit vessels in their monthly accounting reports. FISCAL EFFECT Annual minor loss of revenue in the tens of thousands of dollars to the Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund. The 2010-11 Governor's Budget anticipates annual revenues to the fund of $3.3 million and a fund balance of $1.9 million. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . According to the San Francisco Bar Pilots-the bill's sponsor-for years, bar pilots have waived fees for museum ships operated by the nonprofit National Liberty Ship Memorial. Recently, however, the Bar Pilots were informed that this practice of selective fee waiver violates the law. AB 1888 Page 2 This bill would reconcile existing practice with the law, allowing nonprofit museum and foundation vessels to enjoy pilotage free of charge. Additionally, the Bar Pilots contend that, unlike larger commercial vessels, larger pleasure craft draw only about 10-12 feet of water, making them unlikely to run aground and, therefore, free of need for pilotage. The Bar Pilots additionally contend that large recreational craft tend to have flared sides, rather than vertical sides like most commercial vessels, making the recreational craft dangerous to board in the open sea. 2)Background . a) Pilotage Requirements . Bar pilots are responsible for steering an arriving vessel through the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco Bay, the bay waters, and adjoining navigable waters, which include San Pablo Bay, Suisun Bay, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and its tributaries. Pilotage services are also provided for Monterey Bay. When a vessel comes with 12 miles of the Golden Gate Bridge, a bar pilot boards the vessel and takes navigational control until the vessel docks at berth. The bar pilots provide service to all types of vessels, from 100-foot tugs to 1000-foot supertankers, though recreational yachts less than 300 gross tons are not required to use bar pilot services. Inland pilots operate in the inland bays and river channels but are not licensed to operate outside of the Golden Gate. Existing law establishes in state government the Board of Pilot Commissioners, which consists of eight members with jurisdiction over Monterey Bay and the bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. The board regulates pilotage and provides for the licensing, regulation, and management of pilots operating within its jurisdiction. The law further requires the board to appoint and license the number of pilots needed to carry out provisions of the Harbors and Navigation Code. The board also investigates navigational incidents, misconduct, and other matters involving pilots and maintains a training program for new pilots. b) Pilotage Fees and Surcharges . Bar pilots collect AB 1888 Page 3 pilotage fees, which are set in statute, from the vessels they navigate. Bar pilots licensed by the board pay the board a surcharge, collected from vessels, to pay the board's licensing and regulatory expenses and for continuing education. c) Piloting Mega Yachts . Recreational yachts less than 300 gross tons are not required to use bar pilot services. Last year, the Bar Pilots piloted 9 yachts between 300 gross tons and 750 gross tons for a total of 36 boardings. 3)Related Bills. a) SB 300 (Yee) Chapter 497, Statutes of 2009, established a surcharge for payment of navigational aids for bar pilots and revised the pilotage rate based upon the current number of bar pilots. b) SB 1627 (Wiggins) Chapter 567, Statutes of 2008, established legislative oversight over and administrative responsibility for the board. 4)Support . This bill is supported by the San Francisco Bar Pilots-the private association of bar pilots-who sponsored this bill. 5)There is no registered opposition to this bill. Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081