BILL NUMBER: SB 579 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lowenthal
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Sections 71200 and 71215 of the Public Resources
Code, relating to ballast water management, and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 579, as introduced, Lowenthal. Public resources: ballast water
management.
The Marine Invasive Species Act generally applies to all vessels
carrying or capable of carrying ballast water into the coastal waters
of the state after operating outside of the coastal waters of the
state and to all ballast water and associated sediments taken on a
vessel. The State Lands Commission is required to establish
reasonable and appropriate fees, not exceeding $1,000 for each
voyage, to be used to carry out the provisions of the act. A fee
schedule established is required, among other things, to take into
account the impact of the fees on vessels from California operating
in Hawaii and Alaska trades.
This bill would require that a fee schedule established take into
account, among other things, the impact of fees on vessels from
California operating in the Hawaiian, Alaskan, or other domestic
noncontiguous trades. The bill would clarify that waters of the state
means surfaces waters within the boundaries of the state as
established by the California Constitution.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 71200 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
71200. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this division:
(a) "Ballast tank" means a tank or hold on a vessel used for
carrying ballast water, whether or not the tank or hold was designed
for that purpose.
(b) "Ballast water" means water and suspended matter taken on
board a vessel to control or maintain trim, draft, stability, or
stresses of the vessel, without regard to the manner in which it is
carried.
(c) "Board" means the State Water Resources Control Board.
(d) "Coastal waters" means estuarine and ocean waters within 200
nautical miles of land or less than 2,000 meters (6,560 feet, 1,093
fathoms) deep, and rivers, lakes, or other water bodies navigably
connected to the ocean.
(e) "Commission" means the State Lands Commission.
(f) "EEZ" means exclusive economic zone, which extends from the
baseline of the territorial sea of the United States seaward 200
nautical miles.
(g) "Exchange" means to replace the water in a ballast tank using
either of the following methods:
(1) "Flow through exchange," which means to flush out ballast
water by pumping three full volumes of mid-ocean water through the
tank, continuously displacing water from the tank, to minimize the
number of original coastal organisms remaining in the tank.
(2) "Empty/refill exchange," which means to pump out, until the
tank is empty or as close to 100 percent empty as is safe to do so,
the ballast water taken on in ports, or estuarine or territorial
waters, then to refill the tank with mid-ocean waters.
(h) "Hull fouling" means the attachment or association of marine
organisms to the submerged portion of a vessel or its appurtenances,
including, but not limited to, sea chests, propellers, anchors, and
associated chains.
(i) "Mid-ocean waters" means waters that are more than 200
nautical miles from land and at least 2,000 meters (6,560 feet, 1,093
fathoms) deep.
(j) "Nonindigenous species" means any species, including, but not
limited to, the seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material
capable of reproducing that species, or any other viable biological
material that enters an ecosystem beyond its historic range,
including any of those organisms transferred from one country into
another.
(k) "Pacific Coast Region" means all coastal waters on the Pacific
Coast of North America east of 154 degrees W longitude and north of
25 degrees N latitude, exclusive of the Gulf of California. The
commission may modify these boundaries through regulation if the
proponent for the boundary modification presents substantial
scientific evidence that the proposed modification is equally or more
effective at preventing the introduction of nonindigenous species
through vessel vectors as the boundaries described herein.
(l) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock
company, business concern, or corporation, including, but not limited
to, a government corporation, partnership, limited liability
company, or association. "Person" also means a city, county, city and
county, district, commission, the state, or a department, agency, or
political subdivision of the state, an interstate body, or the
United States and its agencies and instrumentalities, to the extent
permitted by law.
(m) "Sediments" means matter settled out of ballast water within a
vessel.
(n) "Submerged portion of a vessel" means all parts of a vessel's
hull and structures that are submerged in water when the vessel is
loaded to the deepest permissible legal draft.
(o) "Waters of the state" means surface waters, including saline
waters, that are within the boundaries of the state as
established by Section 2 of Article III of the California
Constitution .
(p) "Vessel" means a vessel of 300 gross registered tons or more.
(q) "Voyage" means any transit by a vessel destined for a
California port or place from a port or place outside of the coastal
waters of the state.
SEC. 2. Section 71215 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
71215. (a) (1) The Marine Invasive Species Control Fund is hereby
created. The money in the fund, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, shall be used solely to carry out this division.
(2) All money accruing to the Exotic Species Control Fund shall be
transferred to the Marine Invasive Species Control Fund.
(b) (1) The commission shall administer the fund in accordance
with this chapter.
(2) The commission shall establish, through regulation, a
reasonable and appropriate fee solely for the purposes of carrying
out this division. The fee may not exceed one thousand dollars
($1,000) for each voyage, as described in subdivision (c). This
amount may be adjusted for inflation every two years.
(3) In establishing fees, the commission shall consult with a
technical advisory group made up of interested persons, including,
but not limited to, shipping and port representatives.
(4) The commission may establish lower levels of fees and the
maximum amount of fees for individual shipping companies or vessels.
Any fee schedule established, including the level of fees
and the maximum amount of fees, shall take into account the impact of
the fees on vessels operating from California in the Hawaii or
Alaska trades, the frequency of calls by particular vessels to
California ports within a year, the ballast water practices of the
vessels, and other relevant considerations.
(5) A fee schedule established, including the level of fees and
the maximum amount of fees, shall take into account the impact of the
fees on vessels operating from California in the Hawaiian, Alaskan,
or other domestic noncontiguous trades, the frequency of calls by
particular vessels to California ports within a year, the ballast
water practices of the vessels, and other relevant considerations.
(c) The State Board of Equalization, in accordance with Part 22.5
(commencing with Section 44000) of Division 2 of the Revenue and
Taxation Code, shall collect the fee from the owner or operator of
each vessel that arrives at a California port or place from a port or
place outside of California. That fee may not be assessed on
any a vessel arriving at a California
port or place if that vessel comes directly from another California
port or place and during that transit has not first arrived at a port
or place outside California or moved outside the EEZ prior to
arrival at the subsequent California port or place.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all fees imposed
pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the Marine Invasive
Species Control Fund.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all penalties and
payments collected for violations of any requirements of this
division shall be deposited into the Marine Invasive Species Control
Fund.
SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to clarify state law regarding the boundaries of waters
of the state, and thereby minimize unnecessary and costly litigation
that may adversely impact California's state waters, it is necessary
for this act to take effect immediately.