BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1408
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 18, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SB 1408 (Blakeslee) - As Amended: May 10, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 33-0
SUBJECT : San Francisco Bar Pilots: pilot and trainee work
safety provisions
SUMMARY : Establishes work safety procedures for bar pilots.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Finds and declares that enhancement of navigational safety is
of the utmost concern and empowers the Board of Pilot
Commissioners (Board) to effectively monitor and oversee
pilots in order to prevent fatigue resulting from extended
hours of service, insufficient rest, and disruption of
circadian rhythms (natural physiological bodily rhythms within
a 24-hour period).
2)Requires that any continuing education program adopted by the
Board must regularly inform pilots of the hazards of fatigue
and effective strategies to prevent fatigue while on duty.
3)Requires a pilot to refuse a pilotage assignment if the pilot
is physically or mentally fatigued and has a reasonable belief
that the assignment cannot be carried out in a safe and
competent manner.
4)Requires the Board's executive director, upon the belief that
a reported safety violation is not corrected prior to the
vessel reaching the next port, to request the United States
Coast Guard (USCG) to report the suspected safety standard
violation to the next port's state control officer or pilot
organization.
5)Requires a pilot trainee applicant, a license applicant, or a
licensee applying for renewal of a license, to disclose
certain medical information, including information concerning
prior substance abuse and medical conditions characterized by
lapses of consciousness.
6)Authorizes the Board to refuse training or licensing to an
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applicant if the Board-appointed physician determines that the
applicant or licensee habitually uses, or is addicted to,
alcoholic beverages, narcotics, or dangerous drugs.
7)Requires the Board to refuse training or licensing to an
applicant who fails to submit required information.
8)Requires adjudicatory proceedings to be conducted by
administrative law judges relative to appeals by any of the
applicants denied a pilot license or entry into the pilot
trainee program.
9)Requires the Board and the port agent to participate in the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) pull notice program for all
pilot licensees and trainees. Requires the Board to obtain
periodic reports at least annually showing each pilot's and
trainee's public record as recorded by the DMV and any
subsequent convictions, failures to appear, accidents,
suspensions, license revocations, or any other actions taken.
Exempts the Board from paying DMV pull notice program fees.
10)Requires the Board to contract for an independent study on
the effects of work and rest periods on psychological ability
and safety for pilots, as specified, and to promulgate
regulations for adequate rest period requirements. Requires
the study to be funded from Board funds collected from a
vessel surcharge on pilotage fees.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Board, to license and regulate maritime pilots
who guide vessels entering or leaving the Bays of San
Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun, and Monterey. The Board has
seven members who are appointed by the Governor with the
consent of the Senate. The Board reports to the Secretary of
the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.
2)Prescribes pilotage rates for vessels and requires vessels
spoken inward or outward bound to pay a specified rate of bar
pilotage. Requires the Board to adopt a schedule of pilotage
rates applicable to pilots and inland pilots for those
operations that are not otherwise provided for under existing
law. Also requires the Board to establish a surcharge for
each movement of a vessel using pilot services to be used for
the pilot and inland pilot continuing education program
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established by the Board as well as to fund Board operations.
3)Requires the pilots to appoint a port agent to carry out the
orders of the Board, other applicable laws, and otherwise
administer the affairs of the pilots. Establishes an
executive director that reports directly to the Board.
4)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 inspect the equipment for its compliance with specified
safety standards. Requires the executive director to report a
potential violation to the USCG.
5)Provides the Board with sole authority to determine the
qualification for obtaining a pilot's license and requires it
to adopt, by regulation, licensing standards that equal or
exceed standards for obtaining federal endorsements that
conform with and support state policy with regard to the safe
operation of vessels.
6)Requires the Board to appoint a physician to determine the
suitability of a pilot to perform the duties of a pilot or
trainee.
7)Requires the Board to adopt training standards and a training
program for pilot trainees and continuing education standards
and program for pilots.
8)Requires employers of drivers of certain vehicles to obtain a
report showing the drivers' current public record as recorded
in the DMV's pull-notice system. Requires that an employer
request to participate in the pull-notice system be
accompanied by a fee to defray DMV's costs.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, up to $150,000 from the Board's special fund to
contract for a study on bar pilot fatigue and proper rest
periods. Minor costs to revise continuing education program
requirements and potentially significant cost in 2014-2015 to
promulgate regulations for bar pilots establishing limits for
the maximum hours of service.
COMMENTS : Bar pilots are responsible for steering an arriving
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vessel through the Golden Gate of San Francisco Bay, the bay
waters and adjoining navigable waters, which include San Pablo
Bay, Suisun Bay, the Sacramento River and its tributaries. When
a vessel approaches the "SF" buoy several miles west of the
Golden Gate Bridge, a bar pilot boards the ship and takes
navigational control. (Pilots in San Francisco are called "bar
pilots" because they board and disembark ships just beyond a
treacherous sand bar which provides a natural obstacle to
shipping.) It becomes the 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 over 1000-foot supertankers.
The bar pilots move more than 9,000 vessels a year, working
closely with shipping agencies, tug companies, and the USGS 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. With the advent of the global positioning
system (GPS), the navigational aid system involving satellites
and computers that can determine the latitude and longitude of a
receiver on the earth, bar pilots use computers to aid in
navigating around shoals and other navigational impediments.
The primary functions of the Board include the issuance and
renewal of pilot licenses; investigation of ship incidents,
incidents, and misconducts by pilots; taking actions against
pilot licensees; operating a pilot continuing education program
and a pilot training program; overseeing the administration of
the Pilot Pension Plan; and conducting pilotage rate hearings.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent
federal government agency charged with investigating
transportation accidents, performed an investigation of a
January 23, 2010 collision of two vessels at Port Arthur, Texas.
The NTSB investigation determined that contributing to the
accident was pilot fatigue due to "untreated obstructive sleep
apnea and his work schedule, which did not prevent extended
hours of wakefulness and disruption to circadian rhythms. For
at least three days during the week before the accident, the
first pilot had maintained a day-awake, night-asleep work
schedule. However, in the one to two days before the accident,
he worked two consecutive piloting assignments that resulted in
his being awake for at least 27 hours straight. He subsequently
rested during daytime hours, which was contrary to the circadian
rhythms that he had been maintaining." At the conclusion of the
investigation, the NTSB issued safety recommendation to the
USCG, the local pilots association, the American Pilots'
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Association, and the governors of the states that operate pilot
services, including California, as follows:
1)Ensure that local pilot oversight organizations effectively
monitor and, through their rules and regulations, oversee the
practices of their pilots to promote and ensure the highest
level of safety.
2)Require local pilot oversight organizations that have not
already done so to implement fatigue mitigation and prevention
programs that (1) regularly inform mariners of the hazards of
fatigue and effective strategies to prevent it and (2)
promulgate hours of service rules that prevent fatigue
resulting from extended hours of service, insufficient rest
within a 24-hour period, and disruption of circadian rhythms.
3)Require local pilot oversight organizations that have not
already done so to implement initial and recurring bridge
resource management training requirements.
This bill is an attempt to implement the recommendations of the
NTSB in terms of studying the appropriate rest hour work
protocol for eliminating or reducing pilot fatigue.
Another provision of this bill requires the Board to participate
in the DMV pull notice program for all pilot licensees and
trainees. This would allow the Board to be notified if a pilot
or trainee receives a driving under the influence violation or
if their driver's license is suspended or revoked.
According to the author's office, this bill is intended to
strengthen the state's continued promotion and provision of safe
navigation in the San Francisco Bay and River system and
Monterey Bay. Additionally, this bill is intended to further
enhance safety and accountability in the state's existing
oversight regime for its licensed pilots - improve public safety
navigation and protect both the environment and California's
maritime economy in the process.
Writing in support of this bill, the Pacific Merchant Shipping
Association, sponsor of the bill, indicates that the bill most
significantly proposes to adopt the NTSB recommendations that
specifically recommended that each state that licenses pilots to
create publicly enforceable minimum rest periods and fatigue
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mitigation standards and to implement thorough and robust pilot
fatigue continuing education and training.
Suggested committee amendments :
1)On page 6, line 24, delete "port agent" and replace with:
board
2)On page 6, line 24, after "each" add: trainee's and
3)On page 6, line 25, after "the" add: trainee or
These changes clarify that pilot trainees are also enrolled in
the pull notice program and that the Board, rather than the port
agent, is to verify reports of violations.
Related legislation : AB 1025 (Skinner) Chapter 324, Statutes of
2011, revised procedures for the investigation and reporting of
equipment safety violations.
AB 907 (Ma) of 2011, as passed this committee, would have
established new procedures for the reporting of ladder or hoist
equipment safety issues. Subsequent to passage from the
Assembly, that bill was amended to pertain to bar pilot
compensation increases, failing passage in the Senate
Governmental Organization Committee.
SB 1217 (Yee) Chapter 568, Statutes of 2008, requires the Board
to appoint a physician or physicians who are qualified to
determine the suitability of a person to perform his/her duties
as a pilot, an inland pilot, or a pilot trainee in accordance
with specified requirements. Requires the Board to terminate a
pilot trainee or suspend or revoke the license of a pilot who
fails to submit the prescribed medication information.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Pacific Marine Shipping Association (sponsor)
California Trade Council
Matson Navigation Company
Save the Bay
Ocean Conservancy
Opposition
SB 1408
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093