BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1888
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1888 (Ma) - As Amended: April 5, 2010
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:13-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill waives pilotage service charges for certain types of
vessels and exempts mega yachts from pilotage requirements.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Exempts from pilotage fees and surcharges noncommercial
vessels that are maritime academy training vessels and vessels
owned and operated by nonprofit museums or foundations.
2)Increases the size of recreational vessels, from 300 gross
tons to 750 gross tons, for which bar pilot services are not
required.
3)Requires bar pilots to include the amount of fees and
surcharges not collected from training and nonprofit vessels
in their monthly accounting reports.
FISCAL EFFECT
Annual minor loss of revenue in the tens of thousands of dollars
to the Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund. The 2010-11
Governor's Budget anticipates annual revenues to the fund of
$3.3 million and a fund balance of $1.9 million.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to the San Francisco Bar Pilots-the
bill's sponsor-for years, bar pilots have waived fees for
museum ships operated by the nonprofit National Liberty Ship
Memorial. Recently, however, the Bar Pilots were informed
that this practice of selective fee waiver violates the law.
AB 1888
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This bill would reconcile existing practice with the law,
allowing nonprofit museum and foundation vessels to enjoy
pilotage free of charge.
Additionally, the Bar Pilots contend that, unlike larger
commercial vessels, larger pleasure craft draw only about
10-12 feet of water, making them unlikely to run aground and,
therefore, free of need for pilotage. The Bar Pilots
additionally contend that large recreational craft tend to
have flared sides, rather than vertical sides like most
commercial vessels, making the recreational craft dangerous to
board in the open sea.
2)Background .
a) Pilotage Requirements . Bar pilots are responsible for
steering an arriving vessel through the Golden Gate Bridge
of San Francisco Bay, the bay waters, and adjoining
navigable waters, which include San Pablo Bay, Suisun Bay,
the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and its tributaries.
Pilotage services are also provided for Monterey Bay.
When a vessel comes with 12 miles of the Golden Gate
Bridge, a bar pilot boards the vessel and takes
navigational control until the vessel docks at berth. The
bar pilots provide service to all types of vessels, from
100-foot tugs to 1000-foot supertankers, though
recreational yachts less than 300 gross tons are not
required to use bar pilot services. Inland pilots operate
in the inland bays and river channels but are not licensed
to operate outside of the Golden Gate.
Existing law establishes in state government the Board of
Pilot Commissioners, which consists of eight members with
jurisdiction over Monterey Bay and the bays of San
Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. The board regulates
pilotage and provides for the licensing, regulation, and
management of pilots operating within its jurisdiction.
The law further requires the board to appoint and license
the number of pilots needed to carry out provisions of the
Harbors and Navigation Code. The board also investigates
navigational incidents, misconduct, and other matters
involving pilots and maintains a training program for new
pilots.
b) Pilotage Fees and Surcharges . Bar pilots collect
AB 1888
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pilotage fees, which are set in statute, from the vessels
they navigate. Bar pilots licensed by the board pay the
board a surcharge, collected from vessels, to pay the
board's licensing and regulatory expenses and for
continuing education.
c) Piloting Mega Yachts . Recreational yachts less than 300
gross tons are not required to use bar pilot services.
Last year, the Bar Pilots piloted 9 yachts between 300
gross tons and 750 gross tons for a total of 36 boardings.
3)Related Bills.
a) SB 300 (Yee) Chapter 497, Statutes of 2009, established
a surcharge for payment of navigational aids for bar pilots
and revised the pilotage rate based upon the current number
of bar pilots.
b) SB 1627 (Wiggins) Chapter 567, Statutes of 2008,
established legislative oversight over and administrative
responsibility for the board.
4)Support . This bill is supported by the San Francisco Bar
Pilots-the private association of bar pilots-who sponsored
this bill.
5)There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081