BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2912 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 2912 (Committee on Natural Resources) As Amended June 30, 2016 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(May 12, 2016) |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 11, | | | | | | |2016) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: NAT. RES. SUMMARY: Makes conforming and other nonsubstantive changes to the Fish and Game Code and the Government Code that provide clean up from recently enacted bills and others that simply make needed technical changes. The Senate amendments restore the definition of "marine waters" and make other additional technical changes. EXISTING LAW, pursuant to the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act (Act): 1)Requires the Administrator of the Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR), acting at the direction of the Governor, to implement activities relating to oil spill response, including emergency drills and preparedness, and oil spill AB 2912 Page 2 containment and clean up. 2)Imposes various requirements relating to oil spill contingency planning, prevention, response, containment, and cleanup, including the obligation that a vessel operator or marine facility prepare and implement an oil spill contingency plan. 3)Requires operators of specified vessels and facilities to submit to the Administrator an oil spill contingency plan. Requires the Administrator to determine whether the plan meets applicable requirements. 4)Requires the Administrator to periodically evaluate the feasibility of requiring new technologies to aid prevention, response, containment, clean-up, and wildlife rehabilitation. 5)Requires the Administrator, taking into consideration the facility or vessel contingency plan requirements of the State Lands Commission, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Coastal Commission, and other state and federal agencies, to adopt regulations governing the adequacy of oil spill contingency plans. Requires regulations to be developed in consultation with the Oil Spill Technical Advisory Committee, and not in conflict with the National Contingency Plan. Requires regulations to provide for the best achievable protection of waters and natural resources of the state, including standards set for response, containment, and clean up equipment and that operations are maintained and regularly improved to protect the resources of the state. Requires a responsible party to be strictly liable for penalties for a spill on a per gallon released basis. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs. AB 2912 Page 3 COMMENTS: SB 861 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 35, Statutes of 2014, expanded the oil spill preparedness and response program to cover all state surface waters at risk of oil spills from any source, including vessels, pipelines, production facilities, and rail. This expansion provided critical administrative funding for preparedness, spill response, and continued coordination with local, state, and federal government, along with industry and non-governmental organizations. SB 861 authorized the extension of the successful marine oil spill preparedness and response program to apply to facilities handling or transporting oil where a spill could impact inland surface waters; thus making the program statewide. This bill makes several clean up corrections to create consistency in the code for this expansion. This bill also moves the response efforts definition to the definition section of the Act. Analysis Prepared by: Michael Jarred / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0003774