BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1323|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1323
Author: Frazier (D)
Amended: 6/10/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/23/15
AYES: Pavley, Stone, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson,
Monning, Vidak, Wolk
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 7/14/15
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Marine debris: removal and disposal
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill authorizes a public agency to remove and
dispose of marine debris after 10 days if the marine debris is
floating, sunk, partially sunk, or beached in or on a public
waterway, public beach, or on state tidelands or submerged
lands, as specified.
ANALYSIS:
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Existing law:
1)Provides a definition for "vessel" that "includes ships of all
kinds, steamboats, steamships, canal boats, barges, sailing
vessels, and every structure adapted to be navigated from
place to place for the transportation of merchandise or
persons" (Harbors and Navigation Code (HNC) Section 21).
2)Defines abandoned property as "any hulk, derelict, wreck, or
parts of any ship, vessel, or other watercraft sunk, beached,
or allowed to remain in an unseaworthy or dilapidated
condition upon publicly owned submerged lands, salt marsh, or
tidelands within the corporate limits of any municipal
corporation or other public corporation or entity having
jurisdiction or control over those lands, without its consent
expressed by resolution of its legislative body, for a period
longer than 30 days without a watchman or other person being
maintained upon or near and in charge of the property" (HNC
Section 522).
3)Provides authority for a peace office, lifeguard, or marine
safety officer, while engaged in the performance of official
duties, to remove and store, as necessary, a vessel from a
public waterway when the vessel (HNC Section 523):
a) Is left unattended and is moored, docked, beached, or
made fast to land in a position that obstructs the normal
movement of traffic or in a condition that creates a hazard
to other vessels using the waterway, to public safety, or
to the property of another;
b) Interferes with, or otherwise poses a danger to,
navigation or to the public health, safety, or welfare;
c) Poses a threat to adjacent wetlands, levies, sensitive
habitat, any protected wildlife species, or water quality.
4)Restricts the abandonment of a vessel upon a public waterway
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or public or private property without the express or implied
consent of the owner or person in lawful possession or control
of the property (HNC Section 525).
5)Specifies that such abandonment is prima facie evidence that
the last registered owner of record, not having notified the
appropriate registration or documenting agency of any
relinquishment of title or interest therein, is responsible
for the abandonment and is thereby liable for the cost of the
removal and disposition of the vessel (HNC Section 525).
6)Authorizes the State Lands Commission (SLC) to immediately
remove a vessel that (Public Resources Code Section (PRC)
6302.1):
a) Is left unattended and is moored, docked, beached, or
made fast to land in a position as to obstruct the normal
movement of traffic or in a condition as to create a hazard
to navigation, other vessels using a waterway, or the
property of another;
b) Poses a significant threat to the public health, safety,
or welfare or to sensitive habitat, wildlife, or water
quality, or that constitutes a public nuisance; and
c) Is abandoned or derelict, if requested to do so by
another public entity that has regulatory authority over
the navigable waterway where the vessel is located.
7)Authorizes the SLC to recover all costs incurred during
removal of vessels, hulks, derelict or wrecked vessels, or
parts of vessels, through appropriate action in state courts
or through an administrative remedy (PRC 6302.1).
This bill:
1)Provides definitions for "vessel" and "marine debris."
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a) Vessel is defined as any watercraft or other artificial
contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of
transportation by water, and
b) Marine debris is defined as a vessel or part of a
vessel, including a derelict, wreck, hulk, or part of any
ship or other watercraft or dilapidated vessel, that is
unseaworthy and not reasonably fit or capable of being made
fit to be used as a means of transportation by water.
2)Provides authority for any state, county, city, or other
public agency having jurisdiction over a given location, or
having authority to remove marine debris or solid waste, to
remove and destroy marine debris that is floating, sunk,
partially sunk, or beached in or on a public waterway, public
beach, or on state tidelands or submerged lands, subject to
the following:
a) The marine debris meets the definition provided in HNC
Section 550, and the value of the debris does not exceed
the cost of removal and disposal;
b) If the debris cannot be positively identified as
belonging to an individual, a peace officer or authorized
public employee securely attaches to the marine debris a
notice stating that the marine debris shall be removed by
the public agency if not claimed or removed within 10 days.
This notice should include the name, address, and telephone
number of the public agency providing the notice;
c) If the debris can be positively identified as belonging
to an individual, a notice is attached to the marine debris
as described previously, and sent to the owner of the
marine debris, if known, at the owner's address of record
with the Department of Motor Vehicles, by certified or
first-class mail. The mailed notice should include a
warning that the debris will be removed in 10 days; and
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d) The marine debris is not removed prior to the 10-day
notification period.
1)Provides authority to immediately remove and dispose of any
marine debris that constitutes a public nuisance or a danger
to navigation, health, safety, or the environment, unless the
debris is whole or not demolished during removal, in which
case it will be maintained or stored for ten days to allow for
notification of the owner.
2)Charges the SLC to adopt, at a public meeting and after
consultation with interested state and local agencies, best
management practices for salvage of marine debris. This should
be accomplished prior to January 1, 2017, and published on the
SLC website.
Comments
Necessity of an expedited removal process. Currently, there are
processes in place to allow SLC and local authorities to remove
vessels from state and public waterways, under certain
conditions. However, such removals are expensive, and the
process is lengthy, which often results in it only being used
for intact vessels with clear ownership markings. Increasingly,
boats are being scrubbed before they are abandoned, making it
very difficult to track the owners. In addition, it is often not
cost effective to remove wrecked or partial vessels, allowing
such marine debris to build up in California waterways.
Abandoned vessels. Over the last several years, the state has
experienced an increase in the amount of watercraft being
abandoned in state waterways. Boats are some of the most
expensive luxury items to maintain and store, and unlike other
luxury goods cannot be disposed of easily or cheaply. An August
2010 Petaluma Argus-Courier article reported that some boat
owners were selling vessels for as little as one-dollar to avoid
the cost of removing their boats from California waterways and
properly disposing of the vessel. Even more distressing, the
Argus-Courier noted that an underground "scuttle" economy has
developed whereby a boat owner pays individuals to strip a boat
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of all usable (financially valuable) material and identifiable
markings (including boat name and vehicle identification number)
then dump the boat overnight in a public waterway. Once
abandoned, boats pose hazards to commercial and recreation boat
traffic as well as the ecosystem of the waterway. This problem
is especially troublesome in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
where personal pleasure boats are abandoned alongside aging
steamboats and river barges. Statewide hundreds of boats are
abandoned annually.
Abandoned boats, especially those that capsize and sink, can
interfere with boating traffic and damage operational vessels
attempting to navigate a waterway. More troublesome, abandoned
boats that begin to deteriorate can leach toxic chemicals or
fuel into state waterways. Removing these vessels is difficult,
potentially dangerous and expensive. To ensure that a boat does
not further deteriorate and expose salvage crews or the local
environment to toxic chemicals, salvage efforts take significant
time and require great care and effort. The sooner an abandoned
boat is removed from the waterway, the less likely it is to
deteriorate and pose significant harm to the environment and
salvage crews.
Related Legislation
AB 166 (Lieu, Chapter 416, Statutes of 2009) raised the minimum
fine for an abandoned vessel from $500 to $1,000. It also
established a program allowing individuals to surrender a
recreational vessel to a public agency, if the public agency
believed there was a danger of the vessel being otherwise
abandoned.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified8/19/15)
Alameda Marina
California Association of Harbor Masters and Port Captains
California Boating Safety Officers Association
California State Lands Commission
California State Sheriffs' Association
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California Yacht Brokers Association
Marina Recreation Association
National Marine Manufacturers Association
Recreational Boaters of California
Worldwide Boaters Safety Group
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/19/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The California State Lands Commission, in
support, writes: "[AB 1323] would create a simple and logical
process for removal of derelict vessels that constitute marine
debris from a public waterway, public beach, or on state
tidelands or submerged lands. Derelict vessels and parts thereof
are a hazard to navigation and the environment. While
responsible owners dispose of vessels lawfully, other owners
dump them on state waterways where they disintegrate and pollute
the environment and impede navigation."
The California Association of Harbor Masters and Port Captains,
the California Yacht Brokers Association, the Marina Recreation
Association, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, and
the Worldwide Boaters Safety Group note that this bill creates
an efficient and cost effective method of removing hazards to
navigation and that: "California has the second largest boating
population in the United States. There are over 800,000
registered vessels, not including federally documented vessels,
and boating activity generates roughly $8.9 billion to the
State's economy. . . . A byproduct of this economic and boating
activity is a continual problem with the abandonment of vessels
that are beyond their useful life. This bill will allow for a
streamlined process to remove these vessels, thereby not only
removing the hazards to navigation and the threat to the
environment, but will improve our waterways, which can only
enhance this significant aspect of our economy and State's
cultural heritage."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15
AYES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla,
Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
AB 1323
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Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Jones, O'Donnell, Olsen, Waldron,
Weber
Prepared by:Angee Doerr / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116
8/19/15 20:34:37
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