BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
                              Senator Isadore Hall, III
                                        Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:           AB 22            Hearing Date:    7/14/2015
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          |Author:    |Rodriguez                                            |
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          |Version:   |5/14/2015    Amended                                 |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:      |Yes             |
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          |Consultant:|Felipe Lopez                                         |
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          SUBJECT: Office of Emergency Services: oil-by-rail spills:  
          firefighters


            DIGEST:    This bill requires, upon a specified appropriation by  
          the Legislature, the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee  
          (CDAC) to review the curriculum and courses of instructions  
          offered to train firefighters in response methods for  
          oil-by-rail spills.  The bill also requires the Office of  
          Emergency Services (OES) to compile a list of those curriculum  
          and courses of instruction and make that list available to all  
          fire departments.  

          ANALYSIS:
          
          Existing law:
          
          1)Establishes OES within the Office of the Governor and under  
            the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services. 

          2)Provides that OES is responsible for the state's emergency and  
            disaster response services for natural, technological, or  
            manmade disasters and emergencies.

          3)Requires OES 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  







          AB 22 (Rodriguez)                                  Page 2 of ?
          
          
            those spills.

          4)Establishes the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee  
            (CDAC) to provide advice on the development of specified  
            course curricula and response training. 

          This bill:

          1)Requires, upon a specified appropriation by the Legislature,  
            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)Requires OES to compile a list of those curriculum and courses  
            of instructions, make the list available to all fire  
            departments, and facilitate and encourage fire departments to  
            send firefighters for that training.

          3)Requires OES to establish a program to reimburse fire  
            departments for costs incurred by those departments in sending  
            firefighters to training.

          4)Provides that 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. 

          5)Makes legislative findings and declarations. 

          Background

          Purpose of the bill.  According to the author, "on July 31,  
          2014, the Assembly Select Committee on Local Emergency  
          Preparedness convened an informational hearing to collect  
          testimony on how well our local communities and first responders  
          are being trained and equipped to respond to a worst case  
          scenario oil spill by rail and to learn what California can do  
          to help them be prepared.  The Committee found that many small  
          and medium sized fire departments do not have the budget funds  
          available to send firefighters for training even if the costs of  
          that training are subsidized or paid for with grants or other  
          assistance."

          The author argues that "this often occurs because when a  
          firefighter is sent for training, another off duty firefighter  








          AB 22 (Rodriguez)                                  Page 3 of ?
          
          
          must be called in to cover the shift to maintain coverage for  
          services.  This requires paying the firefighter his salary  
          during his training and also paying an off duty firefighter to  
          cover the shift."

          Transportation of Oil by Rail.  The transportation of oil by  
          rail in California has dramatically increased in the past  
          several years.  In 2012, about 70% of oil imported by California  
          refineries came through marine terminals and only about .3%  
          arrived by rail.  The following year, crude oil imports by rail  
          jumped approximately 500% or about 1% of total imports.  Many  
          experts, including the California Energy Commission estimates  
          that oil-by-rail imports might increase to 25% of total imports  
          by 2016.  This trend in California has been similar to  
          oil-by-rail shipments nationally, especially in response to  
          increases in production of oil from Bakken shale formation.  

          Bakken Oil is high-quality, light, sweet crude, making it more  
          valuable and economically competitive that some of the other  
          domestic crude oils.  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.  Because crude  
          oil trains travel through some of the state's most densely  
          populated areas, as well as some of the most sensitive  
          ecological areas, oil-by-rail spills are particularly dangerous.  
           While transporting oil-by-rail costs about twice as much as  
          transportation by pipeline, oil-by-rail is faster and offers  
          greater flexibility.  This flexibility allows companies to take  
          advantage of price differentials across the United States. 

          Federal law governs most major aspects of rail transport, and  
          preempts most state regulation.  The principal agency  
          responsible for promulgating and enforcing the safety of rail  
          shipments of crude oil is the Department of Transportation  
          (DOT), and specifically within DOT: the Federal Railroad  
          Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials  
          Safety Administration (PHMSA).

          At the state level, the California Public Utilities Commission  
          (CPUC) shares authority with the federal government to enforce  
          federal rail safety requirements, and also has authority to  
          enforce state safety rules.  The CPUC is also a participant in  
          federal rulemaking efforts, including through the FRA's Railroad  
          Safety Advisory Committee.








          AB 22 (Rodriguez)                                  Page 4 of ?
          
          

          Various state agencies engage in prevention, planning, emergency  
          response, and cleanup activities applicable to oil-by-rail,  
          including OES, the State Fire Marshal (SFM), California  
          Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), and the Office of  
          Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR).  These state agencies are  
          all beginning to prepare for the heightened risks posed by  
          oil-by-rail.  

          Accidents and Risks of Oil by Rail Transport.  As oil by rail  
          transport has increased in recent years, there has also been a  
          dramatic increase in the number of accidents that involve crude  
          by rail.  According to a June 10, 2014 report by the California  
          Interagency Rail Safety Working Group, more crude oil by volume  
          was spilled in rail incidents in 2013 than was spilled in the  
          nearly four decades prior.  In addition, according to the  
          report, incidents involving oil by rail in California increased  
          from 3 in 2011 to 25 in 2013.  Most reported incidents involved  
          a relatively small volume of oil released, but the potential for  
          high-consequences incidents will increase as more oil is  
          transported by rail.  For example, the largest and most tragic  
          accident occurred on July 2013 in Lac-Megantic, Quebec where 63  
          tanks of crude oil exploded killing 47 people.  In 2013 and 2014  
          there were eight major accidents in North America.  The causes  
          of these accidents vary, but they have included track failures,  
          inadequate rail car equipment, and human error. 

          Oil-by-Rail Routes in California.  In California, trains  
          transporting crude oil are expected to travel via the Feather  
          River or Donner Pass to the Bay Area, the Tehachapi Pass to  
          Bakersfield, or into Los Angeles.  Thus, they will travel  
          through some of California's most densely populated areas, as  
          well as some of the most sensitive ecological eco systems. 

          Prior/Related Legislation
          
          AB 380 (Dickinson, Chapter 533, Statutes of 2014) required rail  
          carriers to submit specified information regarding the transport  
          of hazardous materials and Bakken oil to OES for the purposes of  
          emergency response planning. 

          FISCAL EFFECT:                 Appropriation:  No    Fiscal  
          Com.:             Yes          Local:          No










          AB 22 (Rodriguez)                                  Page 5 of ?
          
          
            SUPPORT:  

          California State Firefighter's Association
          City of Burbank
          City of Indian Wells
          City of Long Beach
          City of Sacramento
          City of Santa Barbara
          City of Thousand Oaks
          Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce
          League of California Cities

          OPPOSITION:

          None received

          ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:    According to the City of Long Beach,  
          "existing law provides rail-transported oil spill response  
          training at the expense of fire departments.  AB 22 sensibly  
          establishes guidelines that reduce disparities in training and  
          equipment for oil-by-rail spills among fire departments.   
          Providing fire departments with the necessary resources not only  
          improves response methods, but lessens the impact of oil-by-rail  
          accidents in some of the state's most densely populated areas."