BILL ANALYSIS
Bill No: AB
1888
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Roderick D. Wright, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
Staff Analysis
AB 1888 Author: Ma
As Amended: June 14, 2010
Hearing Date: June 22, 2010
Consultant: Art Terzakis
SUBJECT
Bays of Monterey, San Francisco, San Pablo & Suisun:
pilotage rates
DESCRIPTION
AB 1888 makes the following substantive and clarifying
changes to the Harbors & Navigation Code relating to the
Board of Pilot Commissioners and pilotage for the Bays of
Monterey, San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun:
1. Staggers the terms for members of the Board who are
licensed pilots and industry representatives, as
specified.
2. Exempts from pilotage fees and surcharges noncommercial
vessels that are maritime academy training vessels and
vessels owned and operated by nonprofit museums or
foundations.
3. Increases the minimum size of vessel that requires
pilotage from 300 gross tons to 750 gross tons.
4. Requires bar pilots to include the amount of fees and
surcharges not collected from training and nonprofit
vessels in their monthly accounting reports.
EXISTING LAW
AB 1888 (Ma) continued
Page 2
Existing law establishes in state government the Board of
Pilot Commissioners, with jurisdiction over Monterey Bay
and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun.
Existing law directs the Board to regulate pilotage and
provides for the licensing, regulation, and management of
pilots in these Bays. The Board consists of 7 members
appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Senate,
as follows: (1) two members must be licensed pilots; (2)
two members must represent the industry and be substantial
users of Monterey Bay and any of the waters of the Bays of
San Francisco, San Pablo, or Suisun; and, (3) three must be
"public" members.
Existing law prescribes pilotage rates for vessels and
requires vessels spoken inward or outward bound to pay a
specified rate of bar pilotage through the Golden Gate and
into or out of the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and
Suisun and vessels navigating the waters of Monterey Bay
are also required to pay a specified rate.
Existing law provides that the Board shall, from time to
time, review pilotage expenses and establish guidelines for
the evaluation and application of these expenses regarding
its recommendations for adjustments in rates. Currently,
those rates may be adjusted at the direction of the Board
in the event of specified changes in the number of pilots
or catastrophic cost increases. Specifically, current law
requires an adjustment to rates when the number of pilots
falls below 60 or rises above 60.
Existing law also imposes a Board operation surcharge of
pilotage fees, as specified, to be deposited in the Board
of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund and used to support
the Board, and imposes an additional charge for pension
benefits payable to a fiduciary agent, as specified. The
Fund is continuously appropriated for the payment of the
compensation and expenses of the Board, its officers and
employees. Additionally, existing law provides for a pilot
trainee surcharge and a pilot and inland pilot training
program surcharge that pays for these respective training
programs.
Existing law exempts from those pilotage fees and
surcharges referenced above noncommercial vessels that are
maritime academy training vessels and vessels owned and
exhibited by nonprofit museums or foundations.
AB 1888 (Ma) continued
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Existing law exempts from pilotage fees a vessel sailing
under a coastwise license or appropriately endorsed
registry and engaged in the coasting trade, as described,
unless a pilot or inland pilot is actually used. A foreign
vessel, a vessel bound to or from a foreign port, or a
vessel sailing under a register is required to use a pilot
or inland pilot. These provisions do not apply to a vessel
that is less than 300 gross tons and is manufactured and
used for private recreation.
Existing law requires pilots to submit to the Board every
month a verified account of all moneys or other
compensation received by the pilot or inland pilot as a
result of pilotage services, or by any other person for the
pilot or inland pilot, or on the pilot's or inland pilot's
account, on the forms furnished by the board.
BACKGROUND
Brief Historical Perspective: 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
AB 1888 (Ma) continued
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waters and adjoining navigable waters, which include San
Pablo Bay, Suisun Bay, the Sacramento River and its
tributaries. 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.
Purpose of AB 1888: According to the sponsor of this
measure, the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association, bar
pilots have historically waived fees for museum ships as
well as for maritime academy ships. Last year the bar
pilots were informed that this practice was in violation of
existing law that states all ships must pay. The bar
pilots have requested an amendment to existing law that
will permit the free service to continue. According to the
bar pilots, pilots piloted such vessels only three or four
times last year.
Additionally, as noted above, existing law exempts from
mandatory pilotage fees recreational vehicles (yachts) of
300 gross registered tons or less. Bar pilots contend that
it is often unsafe to board yachts because of their hull
designs and therefore have requested an amendment to the
Harbors & Navigation Code which would exempt from mandatory
pilotage recreational vehicles of 750 registered tons or
less. 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. Bar pilots also claim 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. Last year, the bar
pilots piloted 9 yachts between 300 gross tons and 750
gross tons for a total of 36 boardings.
PRIOR/RELATED LEGISLATION
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.
SB 1627 (Wiggins) Chapter 567, Statutes of 2008. Made
numerous substantive, clarifying and technical changes to
AB 1888 (Ma) continued
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the body of law relating to the Board of Pilot
Commissioners. Specifically, injected ongoing and
continuous legislative oversight and administrative
responsibility within the existing pilot licensing
framework, without altering the Board, its charge, or
composition and without changing current pilotage rates,
pilot pension benefits, or duties and responsibilities of
current, past or future licensed pilots.
SB 1217 (Yee) Chapter 568, Statutes of 2008. Required the
Board of Pilot Commissioners to appoint a physician or
physicians who are qualified to determine the suitability
of a person to perform his or her duties as a pilot, an
inland pilot, or a pilot trainee in accordance with
specified requirements. Also, required the Board to
terminate a pilot trainee or suspend or revoke the license
of a pilot or an inland pilot who fails to submit the
prescribed medication information required by these
provisions.
AB 852 (Leno) Chapter 129, Statutes of 2005. Among other
things, authorized revenue generated by the pilot boat
surcharge to be used to pay for pilot boat design and
engineering modifications intended to extend the service
life of existing boats, in addition to the existing purpose
of purchasing new pilot boats.
SB 1303 (Torlakson) Chapter 560, Statutes of 2004. Made a
minor change to an existing provision of law relative to
representation on the Board of Pilot Commissioners by
clarifying that the Board's two industry members must be
substantial users of any of the waters of the Bays of San
Francisco, San Pablo, Suisun, or Monterey.
SB 1353 (Perata) Chapter 765, Statutes of 2002.
Established a schedule of incremental changes (through
January 1, 2006) to the rates and special surcharges that
bar pilots may impose on vessels that move in and out of
the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun.
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.
AB 1888 (Ma) continued
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SB 2177 (McPherson) 1999-2000 Session. 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. (Held
in Assembly policy 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.
AB 951 (Wiggins) Chapter 261, Statutes of 1999. Codified
the agreement on bar pilot rate increases reached between
the San Francisco Bar Pilots and the Pacific Merchant
Shipping Association.
SB 1741 (Johnston) Chapter 1115, Statutes of 1996. Among
other things, established a schedule of bar pilotage rate
increases that were phased in over a three-year period
(1997-99).
SB 496 (M. Thompson) Chapter 711, Statutes of 1995.
Revised the formula the fiduciary uses to calculate the
quarterly adjustment for pilotage rates. Also, changed the
schedule of pilotage fees for ship movements and internal
operations, as specified.
SB 2068 (Johnston) Chapter 385, Statutes of 1994.
Increased the pilotage rate from 60.70 mills to 64.88 mills
and required the board to temporarily reduce the additional
charge, as specified, if maintenance and repair costs of
two pilot boats are less than $200,000.
SB 238 (Lockyer) Chapter 1192, Statutes of 1993. Increased
the rate of the additional pilotage charge from 60.56 mills
per high gross registered ton to 60.70 mills. Also,
included inland pilots, as defined, in the pension benefit
program.
AB 1888 (Ma) continued
Page 7
AB 1768 (Papan) Chapter 1653, Statutes of 1984. Among
other things, established a unified system of state
regulated pilotage whereby inland pilots became members of
the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association and the combined
group assumed joint responsibility for all pilotage moves
on the pilotage grounds (e.g., San Francisco, San Pablo,
and Suisun Bays and all other ports included therein.)
SUPPORT: As of June 18, 2010:
San Francisco Bar Pilots Association
Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
OPPOSE: None on file as of June 18, 2010.
FISCAL COMMITTEE: Senate Appropriations Committee
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