BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1408 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair SB 1408 (Blakeslee) - As Amended: June 20, 2012 Policy Committee: TransportationVote:12-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No SUMMARY This bill addresses the Board of Pilot Commissioners' authority as it concerns pilot fatigue and other safety issues. Most significantly, this bill: 1)Requires the board to contract for a study of the effects of work and rest periods on psychological ability and safety of pilots and, based on the study results, to enact regulations requiring adequate rest periods. 2)Requires the board to participate in a pull-notice program for licensed pilots and trainees that automatically notifies the board of each pilot's and trainee's record with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). 3)Requires a trainee applicant or licensee, at the time of required physical examination, to report to the board-appointed physician excessive alcohol or drug use, lapses of consciousness or other recent conditions that could affect safe operation of a vessel or motor vehicle. 4)Authorizes the board to refuse to admit a trainee applicant to the trainee program and to issue or renew a pilot license if the board-appointed physician determines the individual excessively or habitually uses, or is addicted to, alcohol, narcotics or drugs and prohibits the board from taking one of the aforementioned actions if the individual fails to submit the required information related to drug use, lapses of consciousness or other recent conditions that could affect safe operation of a vessel or motor vehicle. SB 1408 Page 2 5)Requires any continuing education program adopted by the board to inform pilots of the hazards of fatigue and effective strategies to prevent fatigue while on duty. 6)Requires a pilot to refuse a pilotage assignment if he or she is physically or mentally fatigued and has a reasonable belief that the assignment cannot be carried out safely. FISCAL EFFECT 1)One-time costs of approximately $150,000 to $200,000 to the Board of Pilot Commissioners to contract for the fatigue study required by this bill (special fund). 2)One-time costs, likely in the tens of thousands of dollars, to the board to adopt regulations to require adequate rest periods in keeping with the findings of the study (special fund). 3) Minor, absorbable one-time cost to the board to revise continuing education requirements (special fund). 4)Minor absorbable costs to DMV and the board to administer and participate in, respectively, the pull-notice program for licensed pilots and trainees (special funds). COMMENTS 1)Rationale. The author intends this bill to strengthen the state's promotion of safe navigation in the San Francisco Bay and River system and Monterey Bay. Additionally, this bill is intended to further enhance safety and accountability in the state's existing oversight regime for its licensed pilots and trainees. 2)Background . The Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun licenses and regulates maritime pilots who guide vessels entering or leaving those bays and navigate on their tributaries to Sacramento and Stockton. All operational expenses of the board are funded by a surcharge on pilotage fees set by the board based on pilotage fees set by the Legislature. A pilot continuing education training program and a pilot trainee training program are funded by two separate surcharges on vessel movements set by the board. SB 1408 Page 3 3)Support . This bill is supported by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (sponsor), who intends the bill, among other safety-related goals, to adopt the National Transportation Safety Board recommendations that each state that licenses pilots create publicly enforceable minimum rest periods and fatigue mitigation standards, and implements thorough pilot fatigue continuing education and training. 4)At the time this analysis was prepared, there was no opposition formally registered to this bill. Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081