BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 907
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 907 (Ma)
As Amended April 14, 2011
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 11-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Achadjian, Blumenfield, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Bonilla, Buchanan, Eng, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Furutani, Galgiani, | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| |Logue, Miller, Portantino | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Smyth, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
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SUMMARY : Establishes new procedures for the reporting of ladder
or hoist equipment safety issues. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes a port agent to review the initial report of a
suspected ladder or hoist safety standard violation, and any
information gathered as part of the preliminary investigation.
If the port agent, at his or her discretion, concludes that
the ladder or hoist presents a potential danger to future
users, he/she is required to report the suspected safety
standard violation to organizations of pilots in expected next
ports of call, and authorizes the reporting to any national or
international organization concerned with pilot ladder or
pilot hoist safety.
2)Deletes obsolete references to inland pilots.
3)Deletes obsolete rate increase provisions.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Board of Pilot Commissioners (Board) for the
Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, 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
AB 907
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Francisco, San Pablo, Suisun, and Monterey, as well as the
inland ports of West Sacramento and Stockton.
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 and pilot trainees
and requires that any surcharge money collected be deposited
in separate and specific trainee and pilot funds.
3)Requires the Board, whenever suspected safety standard
violations concerning pilot hoists, pilot ladders, or the
proper rigging of pilot hoists or pilot ladders are reported,
to assign an investigator to personally inspect the equipment
for its compliance with specified safety standards.
4)Establishes a process for the reporting of unsafe equipment
and safety incidences.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible state costs, if any.
COMMENTS : Bar pilots and inland 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, Monterey Bay, Suisun Bay,
the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, 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 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. The bar pilots move more than 9,000 vessels a
year, working closely with shipping agencies, tug companies, and
the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to deliver cargo and
passengers safely and on time. Their scope of services is
unique in that it includes bar, bay, and inland river pilotage.
Inland pilots serve the tributaries of the bay; however, the
last inland pilot recently retired and thus references to them
are proposed for deletion.
Vessels navigating in and around San Francisco Bay require a
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ship captain that has local knowledge of the water, shores,
currents, tides and winds to safely pilot the ships across the
bar and into the bay. Because bar pilots are required to
commandeer a vessel into and out of the bay, they are oftentimes
required to climb from their transport boat onto the vessel
during choppy currents using a pilot ladder and hoist. In some
situations, the equipment is not in a state of good repair.
Current law requires the Executive Director of the Board or a
commission investigator to inspect pilot ladders and hoists for
compliance with the relevant safety standards of the USCG and
the International Maritime Organization. If, in the preliminary
report, the equipment is found to be in violation, or likely
violation, of safety standards, the Executive Director must
immediately alert the USCG. A written report must be submitted
to the incident review committee of the Board, which must remain
confidential until it is reported to the Board. The committee
must then report its findings and recommendations to the Board.
According to the author, the problem is that the investigation,
findings, and recommendations relative to an unsafe ladder or
hoist are unlikely to be completed before the vessel with the
unsafe ladder passes on to future ports of call. This puts the
safety of the pilots servicing those future ports at risk.
Under current law, the USCG has no responsibility to inform the
next port of the reported safety issue. This bill will protect
pilots at other ports by requiring the port agent to report
suspected safety standard violations related to a pilot ladder
or hoist equipment to the pilot organizations at the next
expected port of call.
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0000695