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.   








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            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  








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               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