Amended in Senate August 14, 2014

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

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 380

Introduced by Assembly Member Dickinson

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(Coauthor: Assembly Member Gatto)

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(Coauthors: Senators Gaines and Hill)

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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 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, 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.

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.

(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.

(c) “Office” means the Office of Emergency Services.

(d) “Oil” has the same meaning as in Section 8670.3 of the
Government Code.

(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.

(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.

(d) The office shall disseminate information necessary for
developing emergency response plans from the reports prepared
pursuant to 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 begin insert summary end insert shall not be posted on a public Internet
Web begin delete site or be subject to public agency or public review and
approval processes. end delete begin insert site. end insert

(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. 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 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. 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.