BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 935
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   July 13, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

            SB 935 (Committee on Environmental Quality) - As Introduced:  
                                   March 14, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Environmental 
          Safety and Toxic Materials                    Vote: 9-0

          Urgency:     Yes                  State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill makes several noncontroversial changes to code, 
          including:

          1)Changing the definition of "bio-fouling" to "hull fouling" and 
            "wetted portion of a vessel" to "submerged portion of a 
            vessel" and expands the latter definition to include internal 
            piping structures in contact with water taken onboard.

          2)Extends the date, from on or before January 1, 2008, to on or 
            before January 1, 2016, by which the State Lands Commission 
            (SLC) must approve the application by an owner or operator of 
            a vessel to install an experimental ballast water treatment 
            system, thereby requiring SLC to deem that system to be in 
            compliance with any future ballast water treatment standard 
            adopted.

          3)Codifies ballast water discharge standards recommended in 
            Table x-1 of the California State Lands Commission Report on 
            Performance Standards for Ballast Water Discharges in 
            California Waters, instead of referencing the report. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible state costs.

           COMMENTS  

           Rationale  .  This bill is intended to update provisions of code 
          to conform to current uses.  In addition, the bill seeks to 








                                                                  SB 935
                                                                  Page  2

          better allow SLC staff to permit the operation of vessels that 
          have installed experimental ballast water treatment systems as 
          part of the United States Coast Guard's Shipboard Technology 
          Evaluation Program (STEP).  Current law requires the SLC, if an 
          owner or operator of a vessel applies to install an experimental 
          ballast water treatment system under STEP and the SLC approves 
          that application on or before January 1, 2008, to deem the 
          system to be in compliance with any future treatment standard 
          adopted for a period not to exceed five years.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081