BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1312
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1312 (O'Donnell) - As Amended April 15, 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Policy |Environmental Safety and Toxic |Vote:|7 - 0 |
|Committee: |Materials | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| |Transportation | |15 - 0 |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable:
SUMMARY:
This bill delays the implementation of interim and final
performance standards for eliminating living organisms in
ballast water discharged by ships. Specifically, this bill:
AB 1312
Page 2
1)Deletes provisions requiring the person in charge of a vessel
to employ at least one of the specified ballast water
management practices but requires the submittal of a ballast
water treatment technology reporting form.
2)Requires the State Lands Commission (SLC) to adopt regulations
governing ballast water management practices for vessels
arriving at a California port from a port outside of the
Pacific Coast Region, as specified, and requires compliance
with these regulations.
3)Extends the date, from 2016 to 2020, by which the SLC is
required to deem an approved experimental ballast water
treatment device to be in compliance with any future treatment
standard adopted.
4)Changes the timing by which the person in charge of a vessel
capable of carrying ballast water, that visits a California
port, must submit ballast water reporting forms.
5)Delays implementation of interim performance standards for the
discharge of ballast water from a scheduled phase-in that
starts in 2016, to 2020 for all vessels. Delays the
implementation of the final performance standard for the
discharge of ballast water of zero detectable for all organism
size classes from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2030.
6)Requires the SLC, in consultation with State Water Resources
Control Board, the United States Coast Guard, and others, to
prepare (or update) and submit to the Legislature, a review of
the results of ballast water treatment systems no less than 18
months before January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2030.
7)Extends the authority of the SLC to collect specified samples
to ensure compliance with ballast water requirements to
include biofouling. Adds the management of biofouling on
vessels to the enforcement authority conferred upon the SLC.
AB 1312
Page 3
8)Expands the records that the person in charge of a vessel
subject to ballast water requirements must make available to
the SLC.
FISCAL EFFECT:
SLC anticipates absorbable costs associated with the delayed
implementation of interim and final performance standards and
modification of other requirements (the Marine Invasive Species
Control Fund).
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. AB 1312 delays implementation of California's
ballast water performance standards until 2020 to enable
further research and development of treatment technologies
that can meet California's standards. This delay also
provides the SLC with time to adopt compliance assessment
regulations that will give the shipping industry guidance on
how to conform to these regulations.
2)Background. To prevent the introduction of aquatic species
through ballast water discharges, In 2006, the Legislature
enacted the Coastal Ecosystems Protection Act (Act),
AB 1312
Page 4
The Act required the SLC, on or before January 1, 2008, to
adopt regulations that require an owner or operator of a
vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water that
operates in the waters of the state, to implement interim and
final performance standards for eradicating organisms in
ballast water before it is discharged.
The interim performance standards, originally applied starting
in 2009, but through subsequent statutory changes now apply in
either 2016 or 2018, depending on the size of the organism,
the capacity of the ship's ballast water retention, and, the
date of the ship's construction. The SLC adopted the interim
performance standards in 2007 and the Act set a final
performance standard for the discharge of ballast water of
zero detectable living organisms for all organism size classes
by 2020.
The SLC reports that it conducted assessments of both
shipboard and shore-based ballast water treatment technologies
in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2013 (per a requirement of the Act),
and found that no ballast water treatment technologies were
available at the time to meet the California performance
standards.
Because of the SLC's previous findings on the availability of
treatment technologies, the Legislature delayed the
implementation dates for ballast water interim performance
standards. In 2008, the legislature delayed implementation
for new vessels with ballast water capacity of less than 5,000
metric tons from January 1, 2009, to January 1, 2010. In 2013
it further delayed implementation for all vessels by an
additional two to six years depending on when the vessel was
constructed and the vessel's ballast water capacity.
AB 1312
Page 5
This bill proposes to delay the implementation of the interim
performance standard to 2020, an eleven year delay from the
earliest original implementation date, and to delay the final
performance standard to 2026, a six year delay from the
original implementation date.
3)Ballast Water Discharges and Biofouling. Ballast water is
fresh or salt water, sometimes containing sediments, held in
ship tanks and cargo holds to increase stability and
maneuverability during transit. Ballast water taken into a
tank from one body of water and discharged into another body
of water can introduce aquatic invasive species. More than
7,000 species are estimated to be moved around the world on a
daily basis and each ballast water discharge has the potential
to release 21.2 million individual free-floating organisms.
Vessel biofouling occurs when organisms attach to the hard
surfaces of the vessel and are then transported to the new
environment the vessel enters.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 1312
Page 6