Amended in Senate May 28, 2014

Amended in Senate May 6, 2014

Amended in Assembly May 24, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 380

Introduced by Assembly Member Dickinson

February 14, 2013

An act to begin delete amend Sections 8670.31 and 8670.35 of the Government Code, and to end delete add Article 5 (commencing with Section 25547) to Chapter 6.95 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to begin delete oil spills end delete begin insert hazardous materials end insert .

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 380, as amended, Dickinson. begin delete Oil spills: oil spill prevention and response. end delete begin insert Spill response for railroads. end insert

begin delete

(1) The Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act generally requires the administrator for oil spill response, acting at the direction of the Governor, to implement activities relating to oil spill response. Existing law directs the Governor to require the administrator to amend, not in conflict with the National Contingency Plan, the California oil spill contingency plan to add a marine oil spill contingency planning section containing specified elements, including an environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas element. Existing law also requires the administrator to adopt and implement regulations governing the adequacy of oil spill contingency plans to be prepared and implemented. Existing law authorizes a local government with jurisdiction over or adjacent to marine waters, as defined, to apply for a grant from the Oil Spill Prevention and Administration Fund to complete, update, or revise an oil spill contingency plan element.

end delete begin delete

This bill would require the administrator to post each oil spill contingency plan it receives on its Internet Web site for public review and would require the administrator to solicit public comment.

end delete begin delete

This bill instead would require the administrator to offer grants to a local government with jurisdiction over or directly adjacent to surface waters within the boundaries of the state to complete, update, or revise an oil spill contingency plan element and to train personnel to administer and implement the oil spill contingency plan element.

end delete begin delete

(2) Existing

end delete

begin insert Existing end insert law requires the Office of Emergency Services to implement regulations establishing minimum standards for business plans and area plans relating to the handling and release or threatened release of hazardous materials. Existing law requires the establishment of a statewide environmental reporting system for these plans.

This bill would require begin delete the operator of the railroad end delete begin insert a rail carrier end insert , as defined, to report specified information begin insert regarding the transportation of hazardous materials, beginning no later than January 31, 2015, end insert to the office on a begin delete monthly end delete begin insert quarterly end insert basis begin delete when a railroad transports rail cargo that includes oil or oil products, as defined end delete . The bill would require begin delete a railroad transporting oil and oil products in this state end delete begin insert each rail carrier end insert to maintain a response management communications begin delete center to be available 24 hours each day for the purpose of communicating with the 911 emergency response centers of primary local public safety agencies that respond to or are on the scene of a railroad-involved hazardous spill or critical railroad-involved incident. The bill would require every refinery operating in the state that receives one or more deliveries of oil and oil products that have been transported by railroad report specified information to the office on a monthly basis. end delete begin insert center, as specified. end insert The bill would require the office to begin delete provide a copy of each report end delete begin insert disseminate relevant information from the quarterly reports end insert it receives pursuant to this act to each unified program agency, as defined, when the office determines a unified program agency area of responsibility may be impacted by begin delete oil and oil product cargo transported by a railroad and to maintain those reports in a specified manner end delete begin insert a hazardous material or oil cargo spill. The bill would require each rail carrier to provide the office with a summary of the rail carrier’s hazardous materials emergency response plan, as specified. The bill would require the office to provide a copy of each summary report of a rail carrier’s hazardous materials emergency response plan to each unified program agency when the office determines a unified program agency area of responsibility may be impacted by a rail carrier spill of hazardous material or oil cargo and that unified program agency has been identified by the rail carrier, in consultation with the office, as able to receive security sensitive information, as specified, on a need-to-know basis. The bill would prohibit a recipient of the reports and hazardous materials emergency response plan from divulging or making known that information to unauthorized recipients, as specified. The bill would exempt the reports and hazardous materials emergency response plan from the California Public Records Act end insert .

begin insert

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

end insert begin insert

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Article 5 (commencing with Section 25547) is
added to Chapter 6.95 of Division 20 of the end insert begin insert Health and Safety
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

 

Article begin insert 5. end insert   Spill Prevention and Response for Railroads

 

begin insert 25547. end insert   

For purposes of this article, the following terms have
the following meanings:

(a) “Hazardous material” means a substance or material that
the United States Secretary of Transportation has determined to
be capable of posing an unreasonable risk to the health, safety,
and property of residents when transported in commerce and has
been designated as hazardous pursuant to Section 5103 of Title
49 of the United States Code. Hazardous material includes
hazardous substances, as defined in Section 25501, hazardous
wastes, marine pollutants, elevated temperature materials,
materials designated as hazardous in Section 172.101 of Title 40
of the Code of Federal Regulations, and materials that meet the
defining criteria for hazard classes and divisions in Part 173 of
Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(b) “Office” means the Office of Emergency Services.

(c) “Oil” has the same meaning as in Section 8670.3 of the
Government Code.

(d) “Rail carrier” means a person providing common carrier
railroad transportation for compensation, but does not include
street, suburban, or interurban electric railways not operated as
part of the general system of rail transportation.

begin insert 25547.2. end insert   

(a) No later than January 31, 2015, and every three
months thereafter, a rail carrier shall submit to the office
commodity flow data for the prior three months broken down by
county and track route relevant to the 25 largest hazardous
material commodities transported through the state, including
tank cars loaded with oil cargo. The commodity flow data shall
conform to all of the following:

(1) Be in accordance with Subpart G of Part 172 of Title 49 of
the Code of Federal Regulations and in Standard Transportation
Commodity Code numeric sequence.

(2) Include a description of the hazardous material or oil cargo
and commodity name organized by number of carload type,
including tank cars and gondola cars, intermodal loads, including
trailers, containers and tank containers, and total loads transported
within a county over the prior three months.

(3) Be encrypted and stamped as security sensitive information
material, as identified pursuant to Section 15.5 of Part 15 of Title
49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(b) The office shall disseminate relevant information from the
quarterly reports prepared pursuant to this section in whole or in
summary form to a unified program agency, as defined in Section
25501, when the office determines a unified program agency area
of responsibility may be impacted by a hazardous material or oil
cargo spill. Rail carriers shall provide additional information to
the office, as necessary, to assist a unified program agency with
its emergency response.

begin insert 25547.4. end insert   

Each rail carrier shall maintain a response
management communications center, which shall provide real-time
information to an authorized public safety answering point or 911
emergency response center about the train consist involved in a
hazardous material or oil cargo spill or other critical incident,
including, but not limited to, both of the following:

(a) Hazardous material movement shipping papers, including
a way bill or total trace, detailing the hazardous material or oil
cargo.

(b) Information that can assist the primary local public safety
agency in containing and safely removing a hazardous material
spill.

begin insert 25547.6. end insert   

(a) Each rail carrier shall provide the office with a
summary of the rail carrier’s hazardous materials emergency
response plan. The hazardous materials emergency response plan
shall not be posted on a public Internet Web site or be subject to
public agency or public review and approval processes.

(b) The office shall provide a copy of each summary report of
a rail carrier’s hazardous materials emergency response plan to
each unified program agency, as defined in Section 25501, when
the office determines a unified program agency area of
responsibility may be impacted by a rail carrier spill of hazardous
material or oil cargo and that unified program agency has been
identified by the rail carrier, in consultation with the office, as
able to receive security sensitive information, as identified pursuant
to Section 15.5 of Part 15 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, on a need-to-know basis.

begin insert 25547.8. end insert   

(a) A recipient of the reports and plans provided
pursuant to Sections 25547.2 and 25547.6 shall not divulge or
make known that information to unauthorized recipients, including,
but not limited to, individuals or organizations not legally
authorized to engage in emergency planning and response
activities.

(b)  The reports and plans provided pursuant to Sections
25547.2 and 25547.6 shall be exempt from the California Public
Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of
Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code), except that the
office may authorize disclosure if, in the discretion of the office,
disclosure relevant to a particular shipment is necessary to provide
for its safe transport through the state.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert begin insert

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of
this act, which adds Section 25547.8 to the Health and Safety Code,
imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings
of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies
within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California
Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the
Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest
protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that
interest:

end insert begin insert

In order to provide for the safe transport of hazardous materials
through the state and to avoid creating a transportation security
risk, it is in the state’s interest to limit public access to this
information.

end insert

All matter omitted in this version of the bill appears in the bill as amended in the Senate, May 6, 2014. (JR11)