BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 935
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 935
AUTHOR: Environmental Quality Committee
AMENDED: As introduced
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: May 2, 2011
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Caroll
Mortensen
SUBJECT : BALLAST WATER
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the Marine Invasive Species Act, Public
Resources Code (�71200 et seq.):
1) Imposes requirements on the master, owner, operator, or
person in charge of a vessel, as defined, to minimize the
uptake and release of nonindigenous species, including the
removal of hull fouling organisms and cleaning of the
ballast tanks regularly to remove fouling organisms.
2) Provides that if an owner or operator of a vessel that
applies to install an experimental ballast water treatment
system and the State Lands Commission (SLC) approves that
application on or before January 1, 2008, SLC would be
required to deem the system to be in compliance with any
future treatment standard adopted for a period of five
years.
3) Requires the owner or operator of a vessel to implement
specified interim performance standards for the discharge
of ballast water.
4) Defines terms for purposes of the Marine Invasive Species
Act.
SB 935
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This bill :
1) Changes the definition of "hull fouling" to "biofouling."
2) Changes the definition of "submerged" to "wetted" and
expands it to include internal piping structures in contact
with water taken onboard the vessel.
3) Extends the date from January 1, 2008 to January 2016, for
which an owner or operator of a vessel applies to install
an experimental ballast water treatment system and that the
SLC approves the application and thus deems the system to
be in compliance with any future treatment standard
adopted, for a period not to exceed five years from the
date that the performance standards were adopted.
4) Deletes reference to Table x-1 in 2006 SLC Report on
Performance Standards for Ballast Water Discharges in
California Waters, and replaces it with actual performance
standards from that report.
5) Makes conforming changes.
COMMENTS :
Purpose of Bill . This is the Committee's annual omnibus bill.
This measure makes technical changes to the Marine Invasive
Species Act for more effective implementation by the SLC.
These changes are a result of a collaborative process and
based upon information included in mandated reports submitted
by SLC.
SOURCE : Environmental Quality Committee
SUPPORT : None on file
OPPOSITION : None on file
SB 935
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