AB 22, as introduced, Rodriguez. Office of Emergency Services: oil-by-rail spills: firefighters.
Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services and makes the office responsible for the state’s emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. Existing law requires the office to serve as the central point of state government for the emergency reporting of spills, unauthorized releases, or other accidental releases of hazardous materials and to coordinate the notification of the appropriate state and local administering agencies that may be required to respond to those spills, unauthorized releases, or other accidental releases. Existing law also establishes the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee to provide advice on the development of specified course curricula and response training.
This bill would require the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee to review the curriculum and courses of instruction offered by public and private programs that train firefighters in response methods for oil-by-rail spills, require the Office of Emergency Services to compile a list of those curriculum and courses of instruction and make that list available to all fire departments and establish a program to reimburse fire departments for costs incurred by those departments in sending firefighters to trainings, as provided.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(a) Fracking and other developing oil extraction technologies
4employed in Canada and the United States have significantly
5increased oil production. This source of new oil has created a
6problem in the transportation and delivery of crude oil. There is
7currently not enough pipeline capacity in North America to
8transport these increased volumes to refineries and distribution
9points. As a result, rail is becoming the primary way to move inland
10crude oil and hydrocarbon gas liquids to the West Coast. California
11like the rest of the nation is experiencing dramatic changes in the
12amount of oil being transported by rail.
13(b) As oil-by-rail shipments have dramatically increased in
14recent years, there has been a resulting increase in the number of
15incidents involving crude oil spills by rail.
16(c) The danger from a major oil spill is exacerbated by the type
17of oil that is being spilled. Oil from the Bakken Shale Formation
18is high-quality, light, sweet crude. It is precisely because this crude
19oil is so energy dense that it is both valuable and hazardous. Its
20light nature and high density under the right circumstances makes
21it volatile, highly flammable, and toxic.
22(d) Crude oil trains travel through some of the state’s most
23densely populated areas, as well as some of the most sensitive
24ecological areas, since rail lines frequently operate near or over
25rivers and other sensitive waterways in the state.
26(e) There are wide
disparities in training and equipment for
27oil-by-rail spills in the following instances: between volunteer and
28nonvolunteer fire departments; between rural and urban fire
29departments; and between small and large fire departments. Large,
30urban fire departments tend to receive more training and are better
31equipped than smaller rural fire departments. Volunteer fire
32departments have almost no independent ability to respond to large
P3 1scale oil-by-rail spills, relying instead upon regional mutual aid
2or upon railroad personnel and assets.
3(f) Many small and some medium-sized fire departments do not
4have the budget to send firefighters for training even if the costs
5of that training are subsidized or paid for with grants or other
6assistance. When a firefighter is sent for training, another off-duty
7firefighter must be called in to cover the shift and maintain
8coverage for services. This requires paying the firefighter his or
9her salary during his or
her training and also paying an off-duty
10firefighter to cover the shift. Railroads provide free training for
11local first responders in California in localities that are convenient
12to the fire departments, yet volunteer and small rural fire
13departments frequently do not attend or participate in such training
14classes.
Section 8574.9 is added to the Government Code, to
16read:
(a) The Curriculum Development Advisory Committee
18described in Section 8588.10 shall review the curriculum and
19courses of instruction offered by public and private programs that
20train firefighters in response methods for oil-by-rail spills.
21(b) The Office of Emergency Services shall compile a list of
22the curriculum and courses of instruction specified in subdivision
23(a), shall make that list available to all fire departments, including
24in that list information regarding the availability and cost of the
25curriculum and courses of instruction, and shall facilitate and
26encourage fire departments to send firefighters for that training.
27(c) (1) The Office of
Emergency Services shall establish a
28program to reimburse fire departments for costs incurred by those
29departments in sending firefighters to trainings identified by the
30Curriculum Development Advisory Committee and the Office of
31Emergency Services pursuant to this section, upon application by
32the fire department for reimbursement. Volunteer fire departments
33may also receive a per diem of one hundred dollars ($100) per
34volunteer firefighter, upon application, to be paid to a volunteer
35firefighter who attends such training.
36(2) The Office of Emergency Services shall use funds received
37from grants or general funds appropriated to the Office of
38Emergency Services by the Legislature for this program.
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