AB 380, as amended, Dickinson. Spill response for railroads.
Existing 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 a rail carrier, as defined, to report specified information regarding the transportation of hazardous materials, beginning no later than January 31, 2015, to the office on a quarterly basis. The bill would require each rail carrier to maintain a response management communications center, as specified. The bill would require the office to disseminatebegin delete relevantend delete informationbegin insert
necessary for developing emergency response plansend insert from the quarterly reports 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 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.
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.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Article 5 (commencing with Section 25547) is
2added to Chapter 6.95 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety
3Code, to read:
4
For purposes of this article, the following terms have
8the following meanings:
9(a) “Hazardous material” means a substance or material that the
10United States Secretary of Transportation has determined to be
11capable of posing an unreasonable risk to the health, safety, and
12property of residents when transported in commerce and has been
13designated as hazardous pursuant to Section 5103 of Title 49 of
P3 1the United States Code. Hazardous material includes hazardous
2substances, as defined in Section 25501, hazardous wastes, marine
3pollutants, elevated temperature materials, materials designated
4as hazardous in Section 172.101 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal
5Regulations, and materials that
meet the defining criteria for hazard
6classes and divisions in Part 173 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal
7Regulations.
8(b) “Office” means the Office of Emergency Services.
9(c) “Oil” has the same meaning as in Section 8670.3 of the
10Government Code.
11(d) “Rail carrier” means a person providing common carrier
12railroad transportation for compensation, but does not include
13street, suburban, or interurban electric railways not operated as
14part of the general system of rail transportation.
(a) No later than January 31, 2015, and every three
16months thereafter, a rail carrier shall submit to the office
17commodity flow data for the prior three months broken down by
18county and track route relevant to the 25 largest hazardous material
19commodities transported through the state, including tank cars
20loaded with oil cargo. The commodity flow data shall conform to
21all of the following:
22(1) Be in accordance with Subpart G of Part 172 of Title 49 of
23the Code of Federal Regulations and in Standard Transportation
24Commodity Code numeric sequence.
25(2) Include a description of the hazardous material or oil
cargo
26and commodity name organized by number of carload type,
27including tank cars and gondola cars, intermodal loads, including
28trailers, containers and tank containers, and total loads transported
29within a county over the prior three months.
30(3) Be encrypted and stamped as security sensitive information
31material, as identified pursuant to Section 15.5 of Part 15 of Title
3249 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
33(b) The office shall disseminatebegin delete relevantend delete informationbegin insert necessary
34for developing emergency response plansend insert from the quarterly reports
35prepared pursuant to this section in whole or in summary form to
36a unified
program agency, as defined in Section 25501, when the
37office determines a unified program agency area of responsibility
38may be impacted by a hazardous material or oil cargo spill. Rail
39carriers shall provide additional information to thebegin delete office, as begin insert office related to the specific commodity flow data,end insert to
40necessary,end delete
P4 1assist a unified program agency with its emergencybegin delete response.end delete
2begin insert response planning.end insert
Each rail carrier shall maintain a response
4management communications center, which shall provide real-time
5information to an authorized public safety answering point or 911
6emergency response center about the train consist involved in a
7hazardous material or oil cargo spill or other critical incident,
8including, but not limited to, both of the following:
9(a) Hazardous material movement shipping papers, including
10a way bill or total trace, detailing the hazardous material or oil
11cargo.
12(b) Information that can assist the primary local public safety
13agency in containing and safely removing a hazardous material
14spill.
(a) Each rail carrier shall provide the office with a
16summary of the rail carrier’s hazardous materials emergency
17response plan. The hazardous materials emergency response plan
18shall not be posted on a public Internet Web site or be subject to
19public agency or public review and approval processes.
20(b) The office shall provide a copy of each summary report of
21a rail carrier’s hazardous materials emergency response plan to
22each unified program agency, as defined in Section 25501, when
23the office determines a unified program agency area of
24responsibility may be impacted by a rail carrier spill of hazardous
25material or oil cargo and that unified program agency has been
26identified
by the rail carrier, in consultation with the office, as able
27to receive security sensitive information, as identified pursuant to
28Section 15.5 of Part 15 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal
29Regulations, on a need-to-know basis.
(a) A recipient of the reports and plans provided
31pursuant to Sections 25547.2 and 25547.6 shall not divulge or
32make known that information to unauthorized recipients, including,
33but not limited to, individuals or organizations not legally
34authorized to engage in emergency planning and response
35activities.
36(b) The reports and plans provided pursuant to Sections 25547.2
37and 25547.6 shall be exempt from the California Public Records
38Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7
39of Title 1 of the Government Code), except that the office may
40authorize disclosure if, in the discretion of the office, disclosure
P5 1relevant to a particular shipment is
necessary to provide for its safe
2transport through the state.
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of
4this act, which adds Section 25547.8 to the Health and Safety Code,
5imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings
6of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies
7within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California
8Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the
9Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest
10protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
11In order to provide for the safe transport of hazardous materials
12through the state and to avoid creating a transportation security
13risk,
it is in the state’s interest to limit public access to this
14information.
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