BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 814 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 12, 2013 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES Wesley Chesbro, Chair SB 814 (Committee on Natural Resources and Water) - As Amended: August 5, 2013 SENATE VOTE : 34-0 SUBJECT : Public resources: administration SUMMARY : Authorizes a cucumber fishing permit holder's estate to transfer the decedent's permit to a qualified person. Delays implementation of ballast water performance standards for vessels that discharge ballast water in the state. Makes minor clean-up amendments to various code sections related to public resources management. EXISTING LAW : 1)Prohibits sea cucumbers from being taken, possessed aboard a boat, or landed by a person for commercial purposes except under a valid sea cucumber permit issued to that person. 2)Requires the commission to adopt regulations that require a vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water that operates in the waters of the state to implement performance standards, as specified, for the discharge of ballast water. Requires all vessels with a ballast water capacity of 1,500 to 5,000 metric tons to comply with the performance standards by January 1, 2014. Requires all vessels with a ballast water capacity of less than 1,500 metric tons or a ballast water capacity greater than 5,000 metric tons, to comply with the performance standards by January 1, 2016. Requires interim ballast water management practices, including mid-ocean ballast water exchanges or retention of ballast water. THIS BILL : 1)Authorizes a cucumber fishing permit holder's estate to transfer the decedent's permit to a qualified person. 2)Requires all vessels with a ballast water capacity of 1,500 to 5,000 metric tons to comply with the state's ballast water discharge performance standards by January 1, 2016. Requires SB 814 Page 2 all vessels with a ballast water capacity of less than 1,500 metric tons or a ballast water capacity greater than 5,000 metric tons, to comply with the performance standards by January 1, 2018. 3)Makes minor clean up amendments to various code sections related to public resources management. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs. COMMENTS : This is an omnibus bill authored by the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, and makes several noncontroversial changes to update code sections related to public resource management. The only substantive provisions deal with sea cucumber permits and ballast water discharge standards. With regard to sea cucumber permits, while existing law allows a person to transfer his or her permit, the law does not explicitly state that a permit can be transferred by the permit holder's estate after death. This bill expressly authorizes such a transfer. With regard to the state's ballast water discharge standards, the State Lands Commission (Commission), which has statutory authority over the issue, adopted a report on June 21, 2013 recommending a delay in the state's ballast water performance standards. According to the Commission's report: On paper, vessels have several options available to them to comply with California's performance standards, including: 1) retention of all ballast water on board; 2) use of potable water as a ballast water source; 3) discharge to a shore-based ballast water treatment facility; and 4) treatment of all ballast prior to discharge by a shipboard ballast water treatment system. However, in practice, this report has demonstrated that vessels have very few options available at this time to comply with California's performance standards. While a large proportion (over 80%) of voyages to California waters retain all ballast water on board, a vessel may still SB 814 Page 3 need to discharge ballast on 20% of its voyages for either operational or safety purposes, and thus will need a method of ensuring that any discharged ballast is in compliance with the standards. Potable water is not an option for many vessels due to cost and the volume of water needed for ballasting purposes. There are currently no shore-based facilities to treat [nonindigenous species] in ballast water in the United States. Shipboard ballast water treatment systems are under development and testing worldwide, however given the limitations of existing data?and the lack of data indicating consistent performance at meeting California's standards in land-based and shipboard testing for the other organism size classes , the Commission concludes that no shipboard ballast water treatment systems are currently available to meet all of California's performance standards for the discharge of ballast water. The lack of options available to the shipping industry with which to comply with California's performance standards at this time is a significant obstacle to implementation of the standards. The Commission therefore recommends that the California Legislature amend PRC section 71205.3 to delay implementation of California's performance standards for the discharge of ballast water for all vessel size classes until such time that technologies are determined to be available. It should be noted that the Commission is working with a third party manager to conduct a study to assess the feasibility of shore-based treatment in California. According to the Commission, this study, along with additional research on shipboard ballast water treatment system performance and availability, will help direct the implementation of California's performance standards into the future. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support State Lands Commission Staff SB 814 Page 4 Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092