BILL NUMBER: AB 1432 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 16, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 29, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonta
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act to amend Sections 1190 and 1191 of the Harbors and
Navigation Code, relating to bar pilots, and making an appropriation
therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1432, as amended, Bonta. Harbors and ports: Monterey Bay and
the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun: pilotage rates.
Existing law provides for the regulation and licensure of pilots
for Monterey Bay and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun
by the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco,
San Pablo, and Suisun within the Transportation Agency. Existing law
prescribes the rates of bar pilotage fees required to be charged by
pilots and paid by vessels inward or outward bound through those
bays. Existing law also imposes, among other things, a board
operations surcharge, of up to 7.5% of all bar pilotage fees charged
by bar pilots, which is paid into the State Treasury to the credit of
the Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund and continuously
appropriated to the board to compensate the board and the agency for
their services and expenses in this regard.
This bill would, consistent with the board's April 2015 adoption
of rate recommendations, increase the rates of those bar pilotage
fees, as provided. By increasing the rates of those fees, and thereby
increasing the amount of surcharges deposited in the Board of Pilot
Commissioners' Special Fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law, until January 1, 2011, authorized the board to
authorize a movement fee, to be paid as a navigation technology
surcharge, in order to recover the pilots' costs for the purchase,
lease, or maintenance of navigation software, hardware, and ancillary
equipment purchased after November 5, 2008, and before January 1,
2011.
This bill would, until January 1, 2020, authorize the board to
authorize that fee as a navigation surcharge in order to recover the
pilots' costs for that software, hardware, and ancillary equipment
purchased after January 1, 2016.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1190 of the Harbors and Navigation Code is
amended to read:
1190. (a) Every vessel spoken inward or outward bound shall pay
the following rate of bar pilotage through the Golden Gate and into
or out of the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun:
(1) Eight dollars and eleven cents ($8.11) per draft foot of the
vessel's deepest draft and fractions of a foot pro rata, and an
additional charge of 73.01 mills per high gross registered ton as
changed pursuant to law in effect on December 31, 1999. The mill
rates established by this paragraph may be changed as follows:
(A) (i) On and after January 1, 2010, if the number of pilots
licensed by the board is 58 or 59 pilots, the mill rate in effect on
December 31, 2006, shall be decreased by an incremental amount that
is proportionate to one-half of the last audited annual average net
income per pilot for each pilot licensed by the board below 60
pilots.
(ii) On and after January 1, 2010, if the number of pilots
licensed by the board is fewer than 58 pilots, the mill rate in
effect on December 31, 2006, shall be adjusted in accordance with the
method described in clause (i) as though there are 58 pilots
licensed by the board.
(iii) The incremental mill rate adjustment authorized by this
subparagraph shall be calculated using the data reported to the board
for the number of gross registered tons handled by pilots licensed
under this division during the same 12-month period as the audited
annual average net income per pilot. The incremental mill rate
adjustment shall become effective at the beginning of the immediately
following quarter, commencing January 1, April 1, July 1, or October
1, as directed by the board.
(iv) On and after January 1, 2010, if, during any quarter
described in this paragraph, the number of pilots licensed by the
board is equal to or greater than 60, clauses (i) to (iii),
inclusive, shall become inoperative on the first day of the
immediately following quarter.
(B) There shall be an incremental rate of additional mills per
high gross registered ton as is necessary and authorized by the board
to recover the pilots' costs of obtaining new pilot boats and of
funding design and engineering modifications for the purposes of
extending the service life of existing pilot boats, excluding costs
for repair or maintenance. The incremental mill rate charge
authorized by this subparagraph shall be identified as a pilot boat
surcharge on the pilots' invoices and separately accounted for in the
accounting required by Section 1136. Net proceeds from the sale of
existing pilot boats shall be used to reduce the debt on the new
pilot boats and any debt associated with the modification of pilot
boats under this subparagraph. The board may adjust a pilot boat
surcharge to reflect any associated operational savings resulting
from the modification of pilot boats under this subparagraph,
including, but not limited to, reduced repair and maintenance
expenses.
(C) In addition to the incremental rate specified in subparagraph
(B), the mill rate established by this subdivision may be adjusted at
the direction of the board if, after a hearing conducted pursuant to
Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the board determines
that there has been a catastrophic cost increase to the pilots that
would result in at least a 2-percent increase in the overall annual
cost of providing pilot services.
(2) A minimum charge for bar pilotage shall be six hundred
sixty-two dollars ($662) for each vessel piloted.
(3) The vessel's deepest draft shall be the maximum draft
attained, on a stillwater basis, at any part of the vessel during the
course of such transit inward or outward.
(b) The rate specified in subdivision (a) shall apply only to a
pilotage that passes through the Golden Gate to or from the high seas
to or from a berth within an area bounded by the Union Pacific
Railroad Bridge to the north and Hunter's Point to the south. The
rate for pilotage to or from the high seas to or from a point past
the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge or Hunter's Point shall include a
movement fee in addition to the basic bar pilotage rate as specified
by the board pursuant to Section 1191.
(c) The rate established in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall
be for a trip from the high seas to dock or from the dock to high
seas. The rate specified in Section 1191 shall not be charged by
pilots for docking and undocking vessels. This subdivision does not
apply to the rates charged by inland pilots for their services.
(d) The board shall determine the number of pilots to be licensed
based on the 1986 manpower study adopted by the board.
(e) Consistent with the board's April 2015 adoption of rate
recommendations, the rates imposed pursuant to paragraph (1) of
subdivision (a) that are in effect on December 31, 2015, shall be
increased by 3 percent on January 1, 2016; those in effect on
December 31, 2016, shall be increased by 3 percent on January 1,
2017; those in effect on December 31, 2017, shall be increased by 2
percent on January 1, 2018; and those in effect on December 31, 2018,
shall be increased by 2 percent on January 1, 2019.
(f) (1) There shall be a movement fee as is necessary and
authorized by the board to recover a pilot's costs for the purchase,
lease, or maintenance of navigation software, hardware, and ancillary
equipment purchased after January 1, 2016.
(2) The software, equipment, and technology covered by this
subdivision shall be used strictly and exclusively to aid in piloting
on the pilotage grounds. The movement fee authorized by this
subdivision shall be identified as a navigation technology surcharge
on a pilot's invoices and separately accounted for in the accounting
required by Section 1136. The board shall review and adjust as
necessary the navigation technology surcharge at least quarterly.
This subdivision shall become inoperative on January 1, 2020.
SEC. 2. Section 1191 of the Harbors and Navigation Code is amended
to read:
1191. (a) The board, pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with
Section 1200), shall recommend that the Legislature, by statute,
adopt a schedule of pilotage rates providing fair and reasonable
return to pilots engaged in ship movements or special operations if
rates for those movements or operations are not specified in Section
1190.
(b) A vessel using pilots for ship movements or special operations
that do not constitute bar pilotage shall pay the rate specified in
the schedule of pilotage rates adopted by the Legislature.
(c) Consistent with the board's adoption of rate recommendations
in April 2015, the minimum rates imposed pursuant to this section
that are in effect on December 31, 2015, shall be increased by 3
percent on January 1, 2016; those in effect on December 31, 2016,
shall be increased by 3 percent on January 1, 2017; those in effect
on December 31, 2017, shall be increased by 2 percent on January 1,
2018; and those in effect on December 31, 2018, shall be increased by
14 2 percent on January 1, 2019.