BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 22
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
22 (Rodriguez)
As Amended May 14, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------|
|Governmental |21-0 |Gray, Linder, | |
|Organization | |Achadjian, Alejo, | |
| | |Bigelow, Campos, | |
| | |Cooley, Cooper, | |
| | |Daly, Cristina | |
| | |Garcia, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gipson, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, | |
| | |Levine, Mayes, | |
| | |Perea, Salas, | |
| | |Steinorth, Waldron, | |
| | |Wilk | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------|
AB 22
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|Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Gordon, | |
| | |Holden, Jones, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Would require, upon a specified appropriation by the
Legislature, the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee (CDAC)
within the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal
OES) 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. This bill requires the office 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
sending firefighters to trainings. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the CDAC 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.
2)Provides the Cal OES shall compile a list of the curriculum and
courses of instruction, as specified. The list shall be
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.
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3)States Cal OES shall establish a program to reimburse fire
departments for costs incurred for sending firefighters to
trainings identified by the CDAC and Cal OES, upon application
by the fire department for reimbursement. Volunteer fire
departments may also receive a per diem of $100 per volunteer
firefighter, upon application, to be paid to a volunteer
firefighter who attends such training.
4)Provides the duties and authorizations as set forth shall only
apply upon appropriation by the Legislature of revenues derived
from fees charged for the reasonable costs to the state of
preparing to respond to oil-by-rail spills and references a
proposal for the 2015 Budget to create an account and fee to
support those costs.
5)Makes legislative findings and declarations.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes Cal OES within the office of the Governor and under
the supervision of the Director of Cal OES and makes the office
responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response
services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and
emergencies.
2)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.
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3)Establishes the CDAC to, among other things, provide advice on
the development of specified course curricula and response
training. (Government Code Section 8588.10)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, significant General Fund (GF) costs to Cal OES to
conduct curriculum and courses review and provide information to
fire departments; estimated GF costs of more than $3.5 million to
reimburse local fire agencies for attending courses.
COMMENTS:
Background: According to the author's office, fracking and other
developing oil extraction technologies employed in Canada and the
United States (U.S.) have significantly increased oil production.
This source of new oil has created a problem in the transportation
and delivery of crude oil. There is not enough pipeline capacity
in North America to transport the 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.
According to the author, 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.
The author's office points out that 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
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density, under the right circumstances, makes it volatile, highly
flammable, and toxic. In addition, 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.
Federal law preempts most state regulation of rail transport, and
the U.S. Department of Transportation is primarily responsible for
enforcing the safety of oil-by-rail shipments. At the state
level, various state and local agencies coordinate emergency
response and cleanup for oil-by-rail spills, often led by OES, and
local agencies often play a significant role in these efforts.
In June 2014, the California Public Utilities Commission and the
Interagency Rail Safety Working Group (IRSWG) issued a report
intended to help prepare state and local emergency responders for
the dramatic increase in shipments of oil-by-rail in California
communities by outlining recommendations to improve public safety
during transport. Pertaining to this bill, under the heading
"Increase Emergency Response Training," the report stated,
"California firefighters and first responders lack training in the
specialized areas of oil rail safety and flammable liquid, as well
as financial resources to attend out of state trainings."
Purpose of the bill: According to the author, there are wide
disparities in training and equipment for oil-by-rail spills in
the following instances: between volunteer and non-volunteer 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.
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The author states 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.
This bill will establish a program to reimburse local fire
departments for expenses incurred by sending personnel to
oil-by-rail accident response training programs. The author
states that by providing proper training, information and
resources, local emergency response agencies will be more prepared
to play a major role in mitigating the effects of such an
accident.
The author concludes, local emergency crews are the first ones on
scene during the critical moments following an accident and they
need to be properly prepared to respond. This bill will allow
local fire departments, many of whom have limited budgets, to
receive life-saving training that may have otherwise been
inaccessible due to cost.
Analysis Prepared by:
Eric Johnson / G.O. / (916) 319-2531 FN: 0000637
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