BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 1408
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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 1408 (Blakeslee)
          As Amended  June 20, 2012
          Majority vote 

           SENATE VOTE  :33-0  
           
           TRANSPORTATION      12-0        APPROPRIATIONS      17-0        
           
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          |Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal,         |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey,            |
          |     |Jeffries, Achadjian,      |     |Blumenfield, Bradford,    |
          |     |Blumenfield, Bonilla,     |     |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
          |     |Buchanan, Eng, Galgiani,  |     |Davis, Donnelly, Fuentes, |
          |     |Logue, Miller, Norby,     |     |Hall, Hill, Cedillo,      |
          |     |Portantino                |     |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
          |     |                          |     |Solorio, Wagner           |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Establishes work safety procedures for bar pilots and 
          trainees.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Finds and declares that enhancement of navigational safety is 
            of the utmost concern and empowers the Board of Pilot 
            Commissioners (Board) to effectively monitor and oversee 
            pilots in order to prevent fatigue resulting from extended 
            hours of service, insufficient rest, and disruption of 
            circadian rhythms (natural physiological bodily rhythms within 
            a 24-hour period).  

          2)Requires that any continuing education program adopted by the 
            Board must regularly inform pilots of the hazards of fatigue 
            and effective strategies to prevent fatigue while on duty.  

          3)Requires a pilot to refuse a pilotage assignment if the pilot 
            is physically or mentally fatigued and has a reasonable belief 
            that the assignment cannot be carried out in a safe and 
            competent manner.  

          4)Requires the Board's executive director, upon the belief that 
            a reported safety violation is not corrected prior to the 
            vessel reaching the next port, to request the United States 
            Coast Guard (USCG) to report the suspected safety standard 








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            violation to the next port's state control officer or pilot 
            organization.  

          5)Requires a pilot trainee applicant, a license applicant, or a 
            licensee applying for renewal of a license, to disclose 
            certain medical information, including information concerning 
            prior substance abuse and medical conditions characterized by 
            lapses of consciousness.  

          6)Authorizes the Board to refuse training or licensing to an 
            applicant if the Board-appointed physician determines that the 
            applicant or licensee habitually uses, or is addicted to, 
            alcoholic beverages, narcotics, or dangerous drugs.  

          7)Requires the Board to refuse training or licensing to an 
            applicant who fails to submit required information.  

          8)Requires adjudicatory proceedings to be conducted by 
            administrative law judges relative to appeals by any of the 
            applicants denied a pilot license or entry into the pilot 
            trainee program.  

          9)Requires the Board to participate in the Department of Motor 
            Vehicles (DMV) pull notice program for all pilot licensees and 
            trainees.  Requires the Board to obtain periodic reports at 
            least annually showing each pilot's and trainee's public 
            record as recorded by the DMV and any subsequent convictions, 
            failures to appear, accidents, suspensions, license 
            revocations, or any other actions taken.  Exempts the Board 
            from paying DMV pull notice program fees.  

          10)Requires the Board to contract for an independent study on 
            the effects of work and rest periods on psychological ability 
            and safety for pilots, as specified, and to promulgate 
            regulations for adequate rest period requirements.  Requires 
            the study to be funded from Board funds collected from a 
            vessel surcharge on pilotage fees.  

           EXISTING LAW  :  

          1)Establishes the Board, to license and regulate maritime pilots 
            who guide vessels entering or leaving the Bays of San 
            Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun, and Monterey.  The Board has 
            seven members who are appointed by the Governor with the 








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            consent of the Senate.  The Board reports to the Secretary of 
            the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.  

          2)Prescribes pilotage rates for vessels and requires vessels 
            spoken inward or outward bound to pay a specified rate of bar 
            pilotage.  Requires the Board to adopt a schedule of pilotage 
            rates applicable to pilots and inland pilots for those 
            operations that are not otherwise provided for under existing 
            law.  Also requires the Board to establish a surcharge for 
            each movement of a vessel using pilot services to be used for 
            the pilot and inland pilot continuing education program 
            established by the Board as well as to fund Board operations.  


          3)Requires the pilots to appoint a port agent to carry out the 
            orders of the Board, other applicable laws, and otherwise 
            administer the affairs of the pilots.  Establishes an 
            executive director that reports directly to the Board.  

          4)Requires the Board, whenever suspected safety standard 
            violations concerning pilot hoists, pilot ladders, or the 
            proper rigging of pilot hoists or pilot ladders are reported, 
            to inspect the equipment for its compliance with specified 
            safety standards.  Requires the executive director to report a 
            potential violation to the USCG.  

          5)Provides the Board with sole authority to determine the 
            qualification for obtaining a pilot's license and requires it 
            to adopt, by regulation, licensing standards that equal or 
            exceed standards for obtaining federal endorsements that 
            conform with and support state policy with regard to the safe 
            operation of vessels.  

          6)Requires the Board to appoint a physician to determine the 
            suitability of a pilot to perform the duties of a pilot or 
            trainee.  

          7)Requires the Board to adopt training standards and a training 
            program for pilot trainees and continuing education standards 
            and program for pilots.  

          8)Requires employers of drivers of certain vehicles to obtain a 
            report showing the drivers' current public record as recorded 
            in the DMV's pull-notice system.  Requires that an employer 








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            request to participate in the pull-notice system be 
            accompanied by a fee to defray DMV's costs.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations 
          Committee:

          1)One-time costs of approximately $150,000 to $200,000 to the 
            Board to contract for the fatigue study as required by this 
            bill.  

          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.  

          3)Minor, absorbable one-time cost to the Board to revise 
            continuing education requirements.  

          4)Minor absorbable costs to DMV and the Board to administer and 
            participate in, respectively, the pull-notice program for 
            licensed pilots and trainees.  

           COMMENTS  :  Bar pilots are responsible for steering an arriving 
          vessel through the Golden Gate of San Francisco Bay, the bay 
          waters and adjoining navigable waters, which include San Pablo 
          Bay, Suisun Bay, the Sacramento River and its tributaries.  When 
          a vessel approaches the "SF" buoy several miles west of the 
          Golden Gate Bridge, a bar pilot boards the ship and takes 
          navigational control.  (Pilots in San Francisco are called "bar 
          pilots" because they board and disembark ships just beyond a 
          treacherous sand bar which provides a natural obstacle to 
          shipping.)  It becomes the pilot's responsibility to guide the 
          ship to its berth.  The bar pilots provide service to all types 
          of vessels, from 100-foot tugs to over 1,000-foot supertankers.  
          The bar pilots move more than 9,000 vessels a year, working 
          closely with shipping agencies, tug companies, and the USGS to 
          deliver cargo and passengers safely and on time.  Their scope of 
          services is unique in that it includes bar, bay, and inland 
          river pilotage.  With the advent of the global positioning 
          system (GPS), the navigational aid system involving satellites 
          and computers that can determine the latitude and longitude of a 
          receiver on the earth, bar pilots use computers to aid in 
          navigating around shoals and other navigational impediments.  

          The primary functions of the Board include the issuance and 








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          renewal of pilot licenses; investigation of ship incidents, 
          incidents, and misconducts by pilots; taking actions against 
          pilot licensees; operating a pilot continuing education program 
          and a pilot training program; overseeing the administration of 
          the Pilot Pension Plan; and conducting pilotage rate hearings.

          The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent 
          federal government agency charged with investigating 
          transportation accidents, performed an investigation of a 
          January 23, 2010, collision of two vessels at Port Arthur, 
          Texas.  The NTSB investigation determined that contributing to 
          the accident was pilot fatigue due to "untreated obstructive 
          sleep apnea and his work schedule, which did not prevent 
          extended hours of wakefulness and disruption to circadian 
          rhythms.  For at least three days during the week before the 
          accident, the first pilot had maintained a day-awake, 
          night-asleep work schedule.  However, in the one to two days 
          before the accident, he worked two consecutive piloting 
          assignments that resulted in his being awake for at least 27 
          hours straight.  He subsequently rested during daytime hours, 
          which was contrary to the circadian rhythms that he had been 
          maintaining."  At the conclusion of the investigation, the NTSB 
          issued safety recommendation to the USCG, the local pilots 
          association, the American Pilots' Association, and the governors 
          of the states that operate pilot services, including California, 
          as follows:

          1)Ensure that local pilot oversight organizations effectively 
            monitor and, through their rules and regulations, oversee the 
            practices of their pilots to promote and ensure the highest 
            level of safety.  

          2)Require local pilot oversight organizations that have not 
            already done so to implement fatigue mitigation and prevention 
            programs that 1) regularly inform mariners of the hazards of 
            fatigue and effective strategies to prevent it and 2) 
            promulgate hours of service rules that prevent fatigue 
            resulting from extended hours of service, insufficient rest 
            within a 24-hour period, and disruption of circadian rhythms.  


          3)Require local pilot oversight organizations that have not 
            already done so to implement initial and recurring bridge 
            resource management training requirements.  








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          This bill is an attempt to implement the recommendations of the 
          NTSB in terms of studying the appropriate rest hour work 
          protocol for eliminating or reducing pilot fatigue.  

          Another provision of this bill requires the Board to participate 
          in the DMV pull notice program for all pilot licensees and 
          trainees.  This would allow the Board to be notified if a pilot 
          or trainee receives a driving under the influence violation or 
          if their driver's license is suspended or revoked.  

          According to the author's office, this bill is intended to 
          strengthen the state's continued promotion and provision 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 - improve public safety 
          navigation and protect both the environment and California's 
          maritime economy in the process.  

          Writing in support of this bill, the Pacific Merchant Shipping 
          Association, sponsor of the bill, indicates that the bill most 
          significantly proposes to adopt the NTSB recommendations that 
          specifically recommended that each state that licenses pilots to 
          create publicly enforceable minimum rest periods and fatigue 
          mitigation standards and to implement thorough and robust pilot 
          fatigue continuing education and training.  


           Analysis Prepared by  :   Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 


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