BILL NUMBER: SB 614	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Simitian

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to amend Section 72441 of the Public Resources Code,
relating to vessels.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 614, as introduced, Simitian. Vessels.
   Existing law prohibits an owner or operator of a large passenger
vessel or oceangoing ship from releasing or permitting anyone to
release specified substances from the vessel or ship into the marine
waters of the state or a marine sanctuary. Existing law excludes from
those requirements a large passenger vessel or oceangoing ship that
operates in the marine waters of the state, as that term is defined,
solely in innocent passage, and discharges made for the purpose of
securing the safety of the vessel or ship or saving life at sea if
specified precautions are taken. The act provides that for purposes
of that exclusion, a vessel is engaged in innocent passage if its
operation in state waters would constitute innocent passage under
specified conventions.
   This bill instead would provide that for purposes of that
exclusion, a vessel is engaged in innocent passage if its operation
in the marine waters of the state would constitute innocent passage
under those specified conventions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 72441 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
   72441.  (a) This division does not apply to either of the
following:
   (1) A large passenger vessel or oceangoing ship that operates in
the marine waters of the state solely in innocent passage.
   (2) Discharges made for the purpose of securing the safety of the
large passenger vessel or oceangoing ship or saving life at sea, if
reasonable precautions are taken for the purpose of preventing or
minimizing the discharge.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, a vessel is engaged in
innocent passage if its operation in  state waters 
 the marine waters of the state  would constitute innocent
passage under either the Convention on the Territorial Sea and
Contiguous Zone, dated April 29, 1958, or the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea, dated December 10, 1982.