BILL NUMBER: SB 457	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Monning

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2013

   An act to amend Section 656 of the Harbors and Navigation Code,
relating to vessels.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 457, as introduced, Monning. Vessels: collisions and accidents.

   Existing law regulates the operation and equipment of vessels
subject to the jurisdiction of this state. Existing law specifies
that it is the duty of the operator of a vessel involved in a
collision, accident, or other casualty, so far as the operator can do
so without serious danger to his or her own vessel, crew, and
passengers, to render assistance to other persons affected by the
collision, accident, or other casualty as may be practicable and
necessary to save those persons from, or minimize any, danger caused
by the collision, accident, or other casualty. Existing law further
requires the owner, operator or other person on board a vessel
involved in a casualty or accident to report the casualty or accident
in accordance with regulations adopted by the Department of Boating
and Waterways.
   This bill would require that the other person required to report a
casualty or accident on board the vessel be at least 18 years of age
and physically capable of making the report. The bill would require
that any public agency that is under contract with the department to
receive law enforcement grant funds from the department, pursuant to
regulations adopted by the department, complete and submit to the
department a report for any boating accident to which it responds or
for which it receives a report, and would make any public agency that
fails to comply with that reporting requirement ineligible to
receive any future law enforcement grant funds from the department
for at least 5 fiscal years following the date of the failure to
submit an accident report.
   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.  Section 656 of the Harbors and Navigation Code is
amended to read:
   656.  (a) It is the duty of the operator of a vessel involved in a
collision, accident, or other casualty, so far as the operator can
do so without serious danger to his or her own vessel, crew, and
passengers, to render to other persons affected by the collision,
accident, or other casualty  such   that 
assistance  as may be   that is 
practicable and  as may be  necessary in order to
save them from, or minimize any, danger caused by the collision,
accident, or other casualty.
   (b) Any person who complies with subdivision (a) or Section 656.1,
656.2, or 656.3 or who gratuitously and in good faith renders
assistance at the scene of a vessel collision, accident, or other
casualty without objection by any person assisted, shall not be held
liable for any civil damages sought as a result of the rendering of
assistance or for any act or omission in providing or arranging
salvage, towage, medical treatment, or other assistance,
where   if  the assisting person has acted as an
ordinary, reasonably prudent person would have acted under the same
or similar circumstances.
   (c) (1) An individual employee of a public entity engaged in
rescue pursuant to this code shall not be a proper party defendant
and shall be dismissed on motion, unless the employee has violated a
statute other than a statute creating a general obligation to rescue
or is guilty of oppression, fraud, malice, or the conscious disregard
of the safety of others.
   (2) The public entity employing such an individual shall be liable
in civil damages  where   if  the
individual employee has failed to act as a reasonably prudent person
would have acted under the same or similar circumstances.
   (3)  Where   If    a public
entity has given a reasonable printed, electronic, or verbal warning
of the danger causing the distress  which   that
 created the necessity for the rescue, and there has been a
reasonable opportunity for the party in distress to receive the
warning, the public entity  shall be   is 
liable only for acts or omissions of its employee  which
  that  were taken in a grossly negligent manner.
   (d) The owner, operator, or other person  who is at least 18
years of age and physically capable  on board a vessel involved
in a casualty or accident shall report the casualty or accident in
accordance with regulations adopted by the department. The department
shall adopt regulations to maintain a uniform casualty and accident
reporting system for vessels subject to this code in conformity with
federal casualty and accident reporting regulations promulgated by
the United States Coast Guard or any successor  thereto
  to those regulations  . Consistent with Public
Law 92-75 and the federal regulations contained in Part 173 of Title
33 of the Code of Federal Regulations, a peace officer or harbor
policeman, upon receiving an initial report of a casualty involving
the death or disappearance of a person as a result of a boating
accident, shall immediately forward the report, by quickest means
available, to the department. 
   (1) A public agency that is under contract with the department to
receive law enforcement grant funds from the department shall,
pursuant to regulations adopted by the department, complete and
submit to the department a report for any boating accident to which
it responds or for which it receives a report.  
   (2) A public agency that has received any law enforcement grant
funds from the department that does not submit an accident report as
required under paragraph (1) shall be ineligible to receive future
grant funds for at least five fiscal years following the date of the
failure to submit a report. 
   (e) Neither the report required by this section nor any action
taken by the department with regard to the report shall be referred
to in any way, or be any evidence of negligence or due care of any
party, at the trial of any action at law to recover damages.
   (f) All required accident reports, and supplemental reports, shall
be without prejudice to the individual so reporting and shall be for
the confidential use of the department and any peace officer
actually engaged in the enforcement of this chapter, except that the
department shall disclose the names and addresses of persons involved
in, or witnesses to, an accident, the registration numbers and
descriptions of vessels involved, and the date, time, and location of
an accident to any person who may have a proper interest 
therein   in that information  , including the
 operators   operator  involved or the
legal guardian  thereof   of that operator 
, the parent of a minor operator, the authorized representative of
an operator, or any person injured  therein   ,
 and the owners of vessels or property damaged  thereby
  , in the accident  .
   (g) This section applies to foreign vessels, military or public
recreational-type vessels, vessels owned by a state or subdivision
 thereof   of a state  , and ship's
lifeboats otherwise exempted from this chapter pursuant to Section
650.1.