BILL ANALYSIS
SB 300
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 300 (Yee)
As Amended July 13, 2009
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :21-12
TRANSPORTATION 9-3
APPROPRIATIONS 11-5
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|Ayes:|Eng, Blumenfield, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Buchanan, | |Calderon, Coto, Davis, |
| |Furutani, Galgiani, Bonnie | |Fuentes, Hall, |
| |Lowenthal, John A. Perez, | |John A. Perez, Skinner, |
| |Solorio, Torlakson | |Solorio, Torlakson |
| | | | |
|-----+---------------------------+-----+---------------------------|
|Nays:|Jeffries, Miller, Niello |Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey, |
| | | |Miller, |
| | | |Audra Strickland |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Establishes surcharge for payment of navigational aids
for bar pilots and revises the pilotage rate. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Imposes a new, one-year navigation technology surcharge on
vessels piloted through the Golden Gate Bridge until January
1, 2011, to recover the bar pilots' acquisition, lease, or
maintenance costs for navigation hardware and software, and
ancillary equipment purchased after November 5, 2008.
2)Revises the rate adjuster, which requires an adjustment to
pilotage rates when the number of pilots falls below or rises
above 60. Whenever the number of bar pilots number fewer than
58, establishes that the rate be calculated that reflects the
number of bar pilots at 58.
3)Makes inoperative the rate adjuster when the number of bar
pilots reach or exceed 60.
4)Requires the Board of Pilot Commissioners (Board) to establish
regulations for continuing education standards and a
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continuing education program for pilots and inland pilots.
5)Makes other minor, conforming, and technical changes.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW requires that all foreign vessels in excess
of 300 gross tons entering or leaving a United States port use
the services of maritime pilots.
EXISTING STATE LAW :
1)Establishes the Board for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo
and Suisun, and Monterey, to license and regulate maritime
pilots who guide vessels entering or leaving those bays. The
seven members of the Board are appointed by the Governor with
the consent of the Senate. Prescribes pilotage rates for
vessels and requires vessels to pay a specified rate of bar
pilotage through the Golden Gate Bridge and into or out of the
bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, Suisun, and Monterey.
2)Imposes a surcharge on pilotage fees to be deposited in the
Board's Special Fund and used to support the Board. Imposes
other surcharges for pilot trainee programs, licensed pilots
continuing education programs, maintaining pilot boats, and
for pilot pension plans. Requires the Board to adopt
standards and a training program for pilots, inland pilots,
and pilot trainees and requires that any surcharge money
collected be deposited in separate and specific trainee and
pilot funds.
3)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.
4)Specifies that the Board has the sole authority to determine
the qualifications and requirements for obtaining a pilot
license and authorizes the Board to suspend or revoke licenses
for misconduct and it specifies procedures for such action.
Establishes various rights and duties of these pilots.
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, one-time surcharge revenue of an unknown amount
sufficient to cover bar pilots' costs for navigation hardware
and software, and related equipment purchased after November 5,
2008.
COMMENTS : 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 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 bar 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
1,000-foot supertankers. Inland pilots (only one remaining) are
not licensed to operate outside of the Golden Gate Bridge in the
open ocean area but pilot in the inland bays and river channels.
Maritime pilots licensed by the Board are required to pay the
Board a percentage of pilotage fees collected by them. These
moneys are used to pay expenses of the Board and its officers in
licensing and regulating the bar and inland pilots. The fund is
also used to pay per diem of the Pilotage Rate Committee for San
Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun Bays. In addition to the
pilotage fee paid by commercial vessels and distributed to the
pilots, there are a number of other
Current charges : A vessel operator currently pays a bar pilot
$8.11 per draft foot of the vessel's deepest draft plus a charge
of 80.55 mills per high gross registered ton. The mill rate is
subject to adjustment based on whether the total number of bar
pilots operating in the San Francisco area is above or below 60.
Instead of the adjustment to be based upon whether the number
of bar pilots rise above or below 60, this bill instead
establishes that the vessel pilotage rate be calculated and
predicated on the number of bar pilots at 58.
Initially, this bill, according to the author's office, would
have made a technical correction by eliminating an antiquated
rate adjuster provision in existing law. The author's office
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contends that historically, the rate adjuster had been sunsetted
with each pilotage rate bill; however, when the decision was
made by the San Francisco Bar Pilots (Bar Pilots) to not pursue
a rate bill in 2006, the rate adjuster inadvertently came back
into effect on January 1, 2007. In opposing the initial
versions of the bill, the Pacific Marine Shipping Association
(PMSA) contends that it is inappropriate for the Legislature to
step outside the traditional rate-setting structure and delete
the existing rate adjuster provision. PMSA states that the rate
adjuster is an important tool for maintaining rate balance
within the current terms of the statute without parties needing
to petition for a rate change from the Board when traffic
volumes increase or decrease. PMSA points out that
historically, this provision was always designed to sunrise at
the conclusion of a period of rate recommendations. The current
rate adjuster became effective in 2007, after being included in
legislation that codified the Board's recommendations to raise
pilot rates by 20%, and no reason for eliminating the adjuster
has been forwarded since its establishment by the Legislature in
2002. PMSA believes that the adjuster should only sunset or be
deleted at a time when the number of pilot licensees is neutral,
and not at a time or in a manner in which either the pilots or
consumers of pilot services pay disproportionately. This bill
strives to establish that neutral number at 60, whereby it is
intended that the rate adjuster will sunset. Furthermore, as
the bill has been significantly amended to establish a base
floor for the rate adjuster, PMSA has removed its opposition to
this bill.
Navigational aids: The author's office notes that, in the wake
of Cosco Busan, it became evident that the use of navigation
software and hardware, such as laptop computers with independent
global positioning devices (GPS) devices, would assist in
improving the safety of navigation. The author's office states
that such technology and equipment would provide the pilot with
a familiar tool that supplements the pilot vessel's existing
equipment. Additionally, the author's office points out that
Cosco Busan reinforced the need to conduct additional research
on navigational hazards and to develop technologies that would
widen the margin of navigational safety in order to protect
California's marine environment. Thus, the author's office
indicates that this measure proposes to impose a "navigation
technology surcharge" to be used for the purchase or lease of
navigational software, hardware and ancillary equipment, along
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with maintenance and training on such technology.
According to the Bar Pilots, they have "selected and acquired
integrated dedicated portable navigation systems hardware and
software and have scheduled training in their use. These rugged
laptop computers, designed for maritime use, have standardized
electronic navigation software. They will provide the pilot
with a familiar tool that supplements the onboard electronic
equipment. We have worked with the Harbor Safety Committee and
the Board of Pilot Commissioners in the development of
guidelines and regulations to implement the use of these
navigation systems. We are also sponsoring legislation
establishing a navigation technology surcharge to promote
further application and development of technology to increase
the margin of safety."
Support: Writing in support of this bill, the Bar Pilots
indicate that the "average individual pilot passed through the
Golden Gate more times in 2008 than in 2006; moved more tonnage
in 2008 than in 2006; but made less money even though he/she
worked longer hours and provided greater benefit to PMSA members
at less cost to those PMSA members. The fact is that PMSA's
gross tonnage was just 4/10ths of 1% lower in 2008 than in 2006,
but the amounts PMSA paid to the San Francisco Bar Pilots was
down by 5% and the pilot's net income was slashed by more than
8%. As the number of pilots continues to diminish, we
anticipate the disparity between the users and the pilots will
grow even wider. The enactment of SB 300 will fix this
unfortunate economic condition by returning the pilotage rate to
its 2006 level." (It should be noted that this bill returns the
pilotage rate to its 2007/2008 level.)
California Coastkeeper Alliance notes that "given increasing
ship traffic in the state's bays and estuaries and along its
sensitive coastline, SB 300 is a prudent and timely measure to
ensure the health and safety of our world-renowned environment
and the public who benefits from it."
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0001957