BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 656
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 2, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 656 (Huber) - As Amended: March 31, 2011
SUBJECT : Joint Sunset Review Committee: San Francisco Bar
Pilots
SUMMARY : Makes eligible for the review by the Joint Sunset
Review Committee (JSRC) the Board of Pilot Commissioners
(Board). Specifically, this bill :
1)Eliminates or sunsets the Board on January 1, 2013.
2)Recasts and reenacts provisions related to the licensing and
regulation of the San Francisco bar pilots without the Board
on January 1, 2013.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the JSRC to identify and eliminate waste,
duplication, and inefficiency in government agencies and to
conduct a comprehensive analysis of every "eligible agency,"
as defined, to determine if the agency is still necessary and
cost effective. This bill would define an "eligible agency"
as an entity of state government, however denominated, for
which a date for repeal has been established by statute on or
after January 1, 2011.
2)Requires each eligible agency scheduled for repeal to submit a
report to the committee containing specified information.
Requires the JSRC to take public testimony and evaluate the
eligible agency prior to the date the agency is scheduled to
be repealed, and would require that an eligible agency be
eliminated unless the Legislature enacts a law to extend,
consolidate, or reorganize the agency.
3)Establishes in the Business, Transportation and Housing
Agency, a Board of Pilot Commissioners (Board) for Monterey
Bay, and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun, and
prescribes the membership of, and functions and duties of the
Board. Establishes the Board in 1850 to provide state
oversight for the regulation and licensing of the San
Francisco bar pilots.
AB 656
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The author indicates that the Legislature creates new
boards, commissions, agencies and departments to solve a
problem, but far too often there is no on-going oversight of the
newly created bureaucracy to ensure it actually solved the
problem it was created to solve. The author believes that this
systematic dysfunction can be fixed by conducting comprehensive,
regular review of state government to ensure taxpayer dollars
are being used wisely.
The author points out that in 1989, the Little Hoover Commission
issued a report, entitled Boards and Commissions: California's
Hidden Government, which found that, "California's multi-level,
complex governmental structure today includes more than 400
boards, commissions, authorities, associations, councils and
committees. These plural bodies operate to a large degree
autonomously and outside of the normal checks and balances of
representative government." The Commission concluded that "the
state's boards, commissions and similar bodies are proliferating
without adequate evaluation of need, effectiveness and
efficiency."
The author further states that since the Little Hoover report
many more boards, commissions and other entities have been added
to the California government structure. Some estimate that
there are about 1,000 government entities. Recently, the
California Performance Review commented on 339 state boards and
commissions and they also found, as Little Hoover did 20 years
ago, that a comprehensive listing of the entities that make up
state government does not exist. Despite several studies
suggesting reform is necessary, the Legislature has failed to
act. Current law, the author argues, needs an enforcement
mechanism to ensure that oversight work is part of the annual
legislative action.
The San Francisco Bay bar pilots have been providing navigation
services for the San Francisco Bay Area since 1850. During this
period, the bar pilots have ensured the safe and efficient
movement of the largest vessels that traverse the San Francisco
Bay, adjacent bays and tributaries, and Monterey Bay. The Board
licenses pilots who guide certain vessels into, out of, and
through San Francisco, San Pablo, Suisun, and Monterey bays and
the ports of West Sacramento and Stockton. The Board also
AB 656
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investigates navigational incidents, misconduct, and other
matters involving pilots and maintains a training program for
new pilots. The Board receives its funding through surcharges to
the payments for a bar pilot's services.
The author points out that the Board has been in continuous
existence for over a century and a half, but was not subject to
external review until 2009, when the Bureau of State Audits
(BSA) conducted a comprehensive review of the Board's
performance and finances. The Board was found to lack many
internal controls, causing it to violate not only its own rules,
but those in state law. The Board seems to have embraced the
BSA's recommendations, and subsequent reports from BSA note that
they are making progress on reforms.
This bill's intentions, according to the author, would require
the Board to undergo a comprehensive review by the JSRC to
ensure that it is complying with the BSA recommendations and to
address any issues that have occurred since the BSA's audit.
Further, the bill would require the Board to undergo a sunset
review by the JSRC prior to January 1, 2013.
Writing is support of this bill, the Pacific Marine Shipping
Association indicates that "As you know, the Board of Pilot
Commissioners is a single-purpose state board that has been in
existence since 1850. The Board regulates, licenses, and sets
the bar pilotage rates for one region of pilots in Monterey Bay
and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. This
regulatory structure does not exist for any other pilots
servicing California's ports, including the Port of Long Beach,
the Port of Los Angeles, and Port of San Diego. As such, we
support further examination if state regulation for one region
is necessary."
The San Francisco Bar Pilots indicates that they will oppose
this bill unless it is amended to simply insert a sunset date on
the Board that would trigger the sunset review by the JSRC.
They contend that unless the bill is amended properly, there
could be inadvertent impacts on the licensing of the bar pilots.
Author's amendments : The author intends to amend this bill to
identify how the licensing and regulation of bar pilots will be
administered in the absence of the Board.
AB 656
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Related bills : AB 28 (Huber) 2011, subject to the review by the
JSRC, would eliminate the Reciprocity Commission and replace it
with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. That bill is
scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Transportation Committee
today.
AB 1659 (Huber) Chapter 666, Statutes of 2010, establishes a new
JSRC with responsibility to review and evaluate state agencies
based on specific criteria and information provided by them.
AB 2130 (Huber) Chapter 670, Statutes of 2010, makes eligible
for the review by the JSRC and imposes a sunset date of January
1, 2013 on the State Race Track Leasing Commission, the Capitol
Area Committee, the Continuing Care Advisory Committee, and the
California Recreational Trails Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Pacific Marine Shipping Association
Opposition
San Francisco Bay Bar Pilots Association (oppose unless amended)
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093