BILL NUMBER: AB 380 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 4, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 16, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 9, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 28, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 6, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 24, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dickinson
FEBRUARY 14, 2013
An act to add Article 5 (commencing with Section 25547) to Chapter
6.95 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to
hazardous materials.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 380, as amended, Dickinson. Spill response for railroads.
Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to
implement regulations establishing minimum standards for business
plans and area plans relating to the handling and release or
threatened release of hazardous materials. Existing law requires the
establishment of a statewide environmental reporting system for these
plans.
This bill would require a rail carrier, as defined, to report
specified information regarding the transportation of hazardous
materials, beginning no later than January 31, 2015, to the office on
a quarterly basis. The bill would require a rail carrier to
prospectively estimate and submit to the office notification of the
weekly movements of trains through a county, as specified. The bill
would require a rail carrier to update that notification
once every 6 months. The bill also would require a rail carrier to
update and notify the office within 30 days of the rail carrier
determining that there will be a material change in the estimated
volume of Bakken oil, as defined, plus or minus 25% per week relative
to the most recent estimate previously submitted to the office.
The bill would require each rail carrier to maintain a response
management communications center, as specified. The bill would
require the office to disseminate information necessary for
developing emergency response plans from the quarterly
reports it receives pursuant to this act to each unified
program agency, as defined, when the office determines a unified
program agency area of responsibility may be impacted by a hazardous
material or oil cargo spill. The bill would require each rail carrier
to provide the office with a summary of the rail carrier's hazardous
materials emergency response plan, as specified. The bill would
require the office to provide a copy of each summary report of a rail
carrier's hazardous materials emergency response plan to each
unified program agency when the office determines a unified program
agency area of responsibility may be impacted by a rail carrier spill
of hazardous material or oil cargo and that unified program
agency has been identified by the rail carrier, in consultation with
the office, as able to receive security sensitive information, as
specified, on a need-to-know basis , as specified
. The bill would prohibit a recipient of the reports and
hazardous materials emergency response plan from divulging or making
known that information to unauthorized recipients, as specified.
The bill would deem the reports and hazardous materials
emergency response plan to be proprietary information and would limit
the dissemination of that information to those government personnel
with emergency response, planning, or security-related
responsibilities on a need-to-know basis, as provided for pursuant to
federal law, except as specified.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that
limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the
writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings
demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need
for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Article 5 (commencing with Section 25547) is added to
Chapter 6.95 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
Article 5. Spill Prevention and Response for Railroads
25547. For purposes of this article, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) "Bakken oil" means petroleum crude oil, Class 3, sourced from
the Bakken shale formation in the Williston Basin.
(a)
(b) "Hazardous material" means a substance or material
that the United States Secretary of Transportation has determined to
be capable of posing an unreasonable risk to the health, safety, and
property of residents when transported in commerce and has been
designated as hazardous pursuant to Section 5103 of Title 49 of the
United States Code. Hazardous material includes hazardous substances,
as defined in Section 25501, hazardous wastes, marine pollutants,
elevated temperature materials, materials designated as hazardous in
Section 172.101 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and
materials that meet the defining criteria for hazard classes and
divisions in Part 173 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(b)
(c) "Office" means the Office of Emergency Services.
(c)
(d) "Oil" has the same meaning as in Section 8670.3 of
the Government Code.
(d)
(e) "Rail carrier" means a person providing common
carrier railroad transportation for compensation, but does not
include street, suburban, or interurban electric railways not
operated as part of the general system of rail transportation.
25547.2. (a) No later than January 31, 2015, and every three
months thereafter, a rail carrier shall prepare and submit
to the office commodity flow data for the prior three months broken
down by county and track route relevant to the 25 largest hazardous
material commodities transported through the state, including tank
cars loaded with oil cargo. The commodity flow data shall conform to
all of the following:
(1) Be in accordance with Subpart G of Part 172 of Title 49 of the
Code of Federal Regulations and in Standard Transportation Commodity
Code numeric sequence.
(2) Include a description of the hazardous material or oil cargo
and commodity name organized by number of carload type, including
tank cars and gondola cars, intermodal loads, including trailers,
containers and tank containers, and total loads transported within a
county over the prior three months.
(3) Be encrypted and stamped as security sensitive information
material, as identified pursuant to Section 15.5 of Part 15 of Title
49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(b) The office shall provide access to commodity flow data as
authorized by Part 15 (commencing with Section 15.1), Part 1520
(commencing with Section 1520.1), and Part 172 (commencing with
Section 172.1) of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations and
Section 11904 of Title 49 of the United States Code.
(c) (1) Beginning January 31, 2015, consistent with the United
States Department of Transportation's Emergency Order Docket No.
DOT-OST-2014-0067, and any subsequent amendments to that order, a
rail carrier shall prospectively estimate and submit to the office
notification of the weekly movements of trains through a county,
including, but not limited to, track route and volumes of shipments
of Bakken oil in amounts equal to or greater than one million
(1,000,000) gallons per train consist. A rail carrier shall update
the notification provided pursuant to this paragraph once every six
months.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a rail carrier shall update and
notify the office within 30 days of the rail carrier determining
that there will be a material change in the estimated volume of
Bakken oil plus or minus 25 percent per week relative to the most
recent estimate previously submitted to the office.
(b)
(d) The office shall disseminate information necessary
for developing emergency response plans from the quarterly
reports prepared pursuant to this section
subdivisions (a) and (c) in whole or in summary
form to a unified program agency, as defined in Section 25501, when
the office determines a unified program agency area of responsibility
may be impacted by a hazardous material or oil cargo spill. Rail
carriers shall provide additional information to the office related
to the specific commodity flow data and Bakken oil to
assist a unified program agency with its emergency response planning.
25547.4. Each rail carrier shall maintain a response management
communications center, which shall provide real-time information to
an authorized public safety answering point or 911 emergency response
center about the train consist involved in a hazardous material or
oil cargo spill or other critical incident, including, but not
limited to, both of the following:
(a) Hazardous material movement shipping papers, including a way
bill or total trace, detailing the hazardous material or oil cargo.
(b) Information that can assist the primary local public safety
agency in containing and safely removing a hazardous material spill.
25547.6. (a) Each rail carrier shall provide the office with a
summary of the rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency response
plan. The rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency
response plan shall not be posted on a public Internet Web site or be
subject to public agency or public review and approval processes.
(b) The office shall provide a copy of each summary report of a
rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency response plan to each
unified program agency, as defined in Section 25501, when the office
determines a unified program agency area of responsibility may be
impacted by a rail carrier spill of hazardous material or oil
cargo and that unified program agency has been identified by
the rail carrier, in consultation with the office, as able to
receive security sensitive information, as identified pursuant to
Section 15.5 of Part 15 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, on a need-to-know basis. cargo. The
provision of the summary report of a rail carrier's hazardous
materials emergency response plan shall comply with Part 15
(commencing with Section 15.1), Part 1520 (commencing with Section
1520.1), and Part 172 (commencing with Section 172.1) of Title 49 of
the Code of Federal Regulations and Section 11904 of Title 49 of the
United States Code.
25547.8. (a) A recipient of
the reports and plans provided pursuant to Sections 25547.2 and
25547.6 shall comply with Part 15 (commencing with Section
15.1), Part 1520 (commencing with Section 1520.1), and Part 172
(commencing with Section 172.1) of Title 49 of the Code of Federal
Regulations and Section 11904 of Title 49 of the United States Code
for the purposes of determining who may have access to the
information contained in the reports and shall not divulge or
make known that information to unauthorized recipients,
including, but not limited to, individuals or organizations not
legally authorized to engage in emergency planning and response
activities. recipients. Disclosure and dissemination
of information in the reports shall be done solely for the purpose of
providing the safe transport of hazardous material, crude oil, and
Bakken oil through the state and is deemed necessary to assist with
emergency response planning.
(b) The reports and plans provided pursuant to Sections 25547.2
and 25547.6 shall be deemed to be proprietary information and shall
be disseminated only to those government personnel with emergency
response, planning, or security-related responsibilities on a
need-to-know basis, as provided for pursuant to federal law,
including, but not limited to, Part 15 (commencing with Section
15.1), Part 1520 (commencing with Section 1520.1), and Part 172
(commencing with Section 172.1) of Title 49 of the Code of Federal
Regulations and Section 11904 of Title 49 of the United States Code.
However, the office may authorize disclosure if, in the discretion of
the office, disclosure relevant to a particular shipment is
necessary to provide for its safe transport through the state and is
necessary to assist with emergency response planning.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares that
Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 25547.8 to the Health and
Safety Code, imposes a limitation on the public's right of access to
the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and
agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the
California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision,
the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the
interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting
that interest:
In order to provide for the safe transport of hazardous materials
through the state and to avoid creating a transportation security
risk, it is in the state's interest to limit public access to this
information.