BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 22 (Rodriguez) - Office of Emergency Services: oil-by-rail
spills: firefighters
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|Version: May 14, 2015 |Policy Vote: G.O. 13 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 22 would require the Office of Emergency Services
(OES) to establish a program to reimburse fire departments for
costs related to sending firefighters to identified training
programs for responding to oil-by-rail spills, as specified.
The bill would only be implemented upon appropriation by the
Legislature of funds derived from specified fees related to
oil-by-rail spill response preparation.
Fiscal
Impact:
Likely minor costs for OES to review available training
curriculum and courses and provide information to fire
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departments. (Special Fund*)
OES staff costs of approximately $147,000 annually to
establish and administer a firefighter training reimbursement
program. (Special Fund*)
Unknown costs, in the millions annually, to reimburse fire
departments for costs to send firefighters to oil-by-rail
spill response training. (Special Fund*)
To the extent available revenues are insufficient to meet
demand, the bill would also create significant General Fund
cost pressures.
* Regional Railroad Accident Preparedness and Immediate Response
Fund
Background: Under existing law, OES is responsible for the state's
emergency and disaster response services for natural,
technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. OES serves
as the central point of state government for the emergency
reporting of spills, and unauthorized or accidental releases of
hazardous materials, and coordinates notifications of relevant
state and local agencies that respond to hazardous materials
spills and releases.
Existing law, SB 84 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), Ch.
25/2015, establishes the Regional Railroad Accident Preparedness
Response Force within OES to provide response capabilities
related to a release of hazardous materials transported by rail,
and to implement the state regional railroad accident
preparedness and immediate response plan for those events. SB
84 authorized the Director of OES to establish a schedule of
fees to be paid in association with the transportation of
hazardous materials by rail car within California. The fees are
to be deposited into the Regional Railroad Accident Preparedness
and Immediate Response Fund, and existing law limits the amount
that may be collected by OES, as specified, and limits the
amount available for appropriation by the Legislature to $20
million in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and $10 million annually
thereafter. The funds may be used to pay for specified purposes
related to the transportation of hazardous materials, including
planning, developing, and maintaining emergency response
capabilities for large-scale hazardous materials releases, and
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support for specialized training for state and local emergency
response officials in techniques for prevention of, and response
to, release of hazardous materials from a rail car or a railroad
accident involving a rail car.
Proposed Law:
AB 22 would require OES to establish a program to reimburse
fire departments for costs associated with training firefighters
in response methods for oil-by-rail spills. Specifically, this
bill would:
Require the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee within
OES to review the curriculum and courses of instructions
offered by public and private programs that train firefighters
in response methods for oil-by-rail spills.
Require OES to compile a list of the curriculum and courses,
including information on availability and costs, and provide
that list to all fire departments.
Require OES to facilitate and encourage fire departments to
send firefighters for that training.
Require OES to establish a program to reimburse fire
departments for costs incurred by those departments to send
firefighters to identified training programs.
Authorize the payment of $100 for daily per diem to volunteer
fire departments for each volunteer firefighter who attends
training.
Specify that the duties and authorizations in the bill would
only apply upon appropriation by the Legislature of revenues
derived from specified hazardous materials fees intended for
oil-by-rail spill response preparation, including those
deposited into the Regional Railroad Accident Preparedness and
Immediate Response Fund.
Related
Legislation: AB 380 (Dickenson), Ch. 533/2014, requires rail
carriers to submit specified information regarding the
transportation of hazardous materials and Bakken oil to OES for
purposes of emergency response planning.
Staff
Comments: This bill is intended to address issues identified in
a July 31, 2014 informational hearing of the Assembly Select
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Committee on Local Emergency Preparedness. The Committee found
that many small and medium sized fire departments do not have
resources to send firefighters for training to respond to
oil-by-rail spills, even if the training costs are subsidized or
offset by grants or other assistance. When firefighters are
attending off-site training, other firefighters must provide
shift coverage, resulting in additional costs to fire
departments.
This bill would establish a program, administered by OES, to
provide reimbursement to fire departments for costs related to
sending firefighters to oil-by-rail spill response training.
Although findings in the bill imply that funding should be
targeted to small, medium, volunteer, and rural fire departments
that may not have resources to send firefighters to training and
maintain service coverage, there are no parameters specified in
the bill that would limit expenditures to fire departments that
have the greatest need, or to those that are located near
potential oil-by-rail spill sites. As a result, the bill may
result in reimbursements to fire departments that currently have
resources to train their firefighters, with state funding
supplanting current local expenditures. In addition, the bill
does not specify fire department costs that would be eligible
for reimbursement through the OES program. Staff assumes
reimbursement could be provided for actual costs for training,
such as tuition costs and per diem for meals and lodging, as
well as department costs to pay a replacement firefighter to
cover shifts of those attending training, potentially including
overtime pay.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were over
17,000 paid firefighters and nearly 12,000 volunteer
firefighters in California in 2013. The duration of training
courses varies, with shorter courses over five days and more
comprehensive hazardous materials curriculum that requires 240
hours of training, or 30 days. The number of firefighters for
which reimbursement would be sought for training as a result of
this bill is unknown. Staff estimates demand for the program
would be in the millions annually.
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