BILL NUMBER: AB 22	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Rodriguez

                        DECEMBER 1, 2014

   An act to add Section 8574.9 to the Government Code, relating to
oil-by-rail spills.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   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:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Fracking and other developing oil extraction technologies
employed in Canada and the United States have significantly increased
oil production. This source of new oil has created a problem in the
transportation and delivery of crude oil. There is currently not
enough pipeline capacity in North America to transport these
increased volumes to refineries and distribution points. As a result,
rail is becoming the primary way to move inland crude oil and
hydrocarbon gas liquids to the West Coast. California like the rest
of the nation is experiencing dramatic changes in the amount of oil
being transported by rail.
   (b) As oil-by-rail shipments have dramatically increased in recent
years, there has been a resulting increase in the number of
incidents involving crude oil spills by rail.
   (c) The danger from a major oil spill is exacerbated by the type
of oil that is being spilled. Oil from the Bakken Shale Formation is
high-quality, light, sweet crude. It is precisely because this crude
oil is so energy dense that it is both valuable and hazardous. Its
light nature and high density under the right circumstances makes it
volatile, highly flammable, and toxic.
   (d) Crude oil trains travel through some of the state's most
densely populated areas, as well as some of the most sensitive
ecological areas, since rail lines frequently operate near or over
rivers and other sensitive waterways in the state.
   (e) There are wide disparities in training and equipment for
oil-by-rail spills in the following instances: between volunteer and
nonvolunteer fire departments; between rural and urban fire
departments; and between small and large fire departments. Large,
urban fire departments tend to receive more training and are better
equipped than smaller rural fire departments. Volunteer fire
departments have almost no independent ability to respond to large
scale oil-by-rail spills, relying instead upon regional mutual aid or
upon railroad personnel and assets.
   (f) Many small and some medium-sized fire departments do not have
the budget to send firefighters for training even if the costs of
that training are subsidized or paid for with grants or other
assistance. When a firefighter is sent for training, another off-duty
firefighter must be called in to cover the shift and maintain
coverage for services. This requires paying the firefighter his or
her salary during his or her training and also paying an off-duty
firefighter to cover the shift. Railroads provide free training for
local first responders in California in localities that are
convenient to the fire departments, yet volunteer and small rural
fire departments frequently do not attend or participate in such
training classes.
  SEC. 2.  Section 8574.9 is added to the Government Code, to read:
   8574.9.  (a) The Curriculum Development Advisory Committee
described in Section 8588.10 shall review the curriculum and courses
of instruction offered by public and private programs that train
firefighters in response methods for oil-by-rail spills.
   (b) The Office of Emergency Services shall compile a list of the
curriculum and courses of instruction specified in subdivision (a),
shall make that list available to all fire departments, including in
that list information regarding the availability and cost of the
curriculum and courses of instruction, and shall facilitate and
encourage fire departments to send firefighters for that training.
   (c) (1) The Office of Emergency Services shall establish a program
to reimburse fire departments for costs incurred by those
departments in sending firefighters to trainings identified by the
Curriculum Development Advisory Committee and the Office of Emergency
Services pursuant to this section, upon application by the fire
department for reimbursement. Volunteer fire departments may also
receive a per diem of one hundred dollars ($100) per volunteer
firefighter, upon application, to be paid to a volunteer firefighter
who attends such training.
   (2) The Office of Emergency Services shall use funds received from
grants or general funds appropriated to the Office of Emergency
Services by the Legislature for this program.