BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2712
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Date of Hearing: April 24, 2006
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jenny Oropeza, Chair
AB 2712 (Leno) - As Introduced: February 24, 2006
SUBJECT : Bar Pilots: avoidance of damage to bay waters
SUMMARY : Extends the Legislature's policy to avoid damage to
the waters and surrounding ecosystems of Monterey, San
Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bays as a result of striking of
one's ship upon an immovable or stationary object, or, in other
words, allision.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Declares the policy of the Legislature to avoid damage to
waters and ecosystems of Monterey, San Francisco, San Pablo,
and Suisun Bays as a result of vessel collision or damage by
providing competent, efficient, and regulated pilotage for
vessels traveling in these specific bay areas.
2)Directs the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the bays of
Monterey, San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun to regulate
pilotage and provides for the licensing, regulation, and
management of pilots in these bays.
3)Makes it a misdemeanor for a person to pilot a vessel into, or
out of, any harbor or port of these bays or to act as a pilot
for ship movements or special operations in any of those bays
if the person does not hold a license as a pilot or an inland
pilot, as specified.
4)Provides that when a pilot for the areas of these bays goes
aboard a vessel, the pilot becomes a servant of the vessel and
its owner and operator. The law also provides that nothing
exempts the vessel or its owner or operator from liability to
persons or property for damage or loss caused by the vessel or
its operation on the ground that the vessel was piloted by a
pilot or that the damage or loss was incurred as a result of
the pilot's error, omission, fault, or neglect.
5)Requires a vessel or its owner, operator, or demise or
bareboat charter hiring a pilot for the areas of these bays to
either pay for trip insurance, as specified, or to defend,
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indemnify, and hold harmless a pilot and any organization of
pilots to which the pilot belongs, and their employees and
officers, from specified liability resulting from an act,
omission, or negligence of the pilot, other than willful
misconduct, and to defend the pilot, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Background:
Bar pilots have been guiding ships into San Francisco Bay, one
of the most treacherous passages in the world, since at least
1835. The work that bar pilots performed was so important that
one of the first legislative enactments by the newly formed
California Legislature that met in San Jose in 1850 was to
address the regulation of bar pilots.
California's history of piloting parallels to a large extent the
history of pilotage throughout the United States. Prior to the
American Revolution, pilotage was regulated by colonial
legislatures. They generally provided for the commissioning of
pilots, apprenticeship requirements to become a pilot, specified
the type and size of pilot boats used in the service, and
established fees to be charged. When the United States
Constitution was adopted, it recognized that pilotage fell
within the domain of the federal government because it involved
regulation of instruments of foreign commerce. One of the first
acts of the newly formed Congress in 1789 was to recognize the
existing state laws regulating pilots and delegate to the states
the authority to continue to regulate pilotage because of its
unique character.
Bar pilots are responsible for steering an arriving vessel
through the Golden Gate of San Francisco Bay, the Bay waters and
adjoining navigable waters, which include San Pablo Bay, Suisun
Bay, the Sacramento River and its tributaries. Recent law
includes Monterey Bay among the areas where vessels are piloted.
When a vessel approaches the "SF" buoy 12 miles west of the
Golden Gate Bridge, a bar pilot boards the ship and takes
navigational control. It becomes the pilot's responsibility to
guide the ship to its berth. The bar pilots provide service to
all types of vessels, from 100-foot tugs to 1000-foot
supertankers.
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Purpose of AB 2712:
According to the author, "currently, the policy of the state is
only to avoid damage to the waters and surrounding ecosystems
within the bar pilot jurisdiction as a result of a collision
between two vessels. However, such damage could also occur as a
result of an allision - where a vessel hits an immovable object.
This bill would simply clarify that the state's policy is also
to avoid damage resulting from an allision."
Related bills:
SB 637 (McPherson) Chapter 177, Statutes of 2001, allowed San
Francisco bar pilots to pilot commercial vessels calling on
ports in "Monterey Bay" by including Monterey Bay within the
system of state regulated pilotage for the Bays of San
Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun.
SB 2177 (McPherson) 2000, would have applied existing provisions
of law relative to the regulation, licensing, and management of
pilots for the bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun to
persons who pilot vessels into or out of the waters of Monterey
Bay. That bill was held in Assembly Transportation Committee at
author's request.
SB 2144 (Perata) Chapter 394, Statutes of 2000, made various
modifications to provisions of law governing the licensing of
bar pilots.
SB 1109 (Burton) Chapter 786, Statutes of 2000, among other
things, required a vessel owner and its operators to defend,
indemnify, and hold harmless, a bar pilot from any liability and
expenses in connection with any civil claim suit as action
arising out of the pilot's performance of the pilotage services,
except for acts of willful misconduct.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
San Francisco Bar Pilots (sponsor)
Opposition
AB 2712
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093