BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2678
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2678 (Ridley-Thomas)
As Amended May 7, 2014
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 8-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Bigelow, Garcia, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Muratsuchi, Patterson, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Skinner, Stone, Williams | |Calderon, Campos, Eggman, |
| | | |Gomez, Holden, Jones, |
| | | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Adds two additional members to the Oil Spill Technical
Advisory Committee (TAC): an inland environmentalist and a
representative of an environmental justice group. Replaces the
TAC member who "worked in state government" with a faculty
member of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at the
University of California Davis (WHC) or the director of the
Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR)
within the Department of Fish and Wildlife and requires it to
administer the state's oil spill prevention and preparedness
program, which includes, among other things, announced and
unannounced oil spill drills, review and approval of oil spill
contingency plans, and local government response training and
grants.
2)Creates the TAC to provide public input and independent
judgment of the actions of OSPR. Requires the TAC to consist
of 10 members. Requires the appointments to be made in the
following manner:
a) The Governor shall appoint six members:
i) One person who has demonstrable knowledge of marine
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transportation;
ii) One person who has served as a local government
elected official or who has worked for a local
government;
iii) One person who has experience in oil spill response
and prevention programs;
iv) One person who has been employed in the petroleum
industry;
v) One person who has worked in state government; and
vi) One person who has demonstrable knowledge of the dry
cargo vessel industry.
b) The Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Rules
Committee shall each appoint two members: one person who
is a representative of the public and one person who has
demonstrable knowledge of environmental protection and the
study of ecosystems.
3)Mandates the TAC to meet as often as required, but at least
twice per year.
4)Requires the TAC to provide recommendations to OSPR, the State
Lands Commission (SLC), the California Coastal Commission, and
the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
on the state's oil spill program, including the promulgation
of all rules, regulations, guidelines, and policies.
5)Authorizes the TAC, at its own discretion, to study, comment
on, or evaluate, any aspect of oil spill prevention and
response in the state.
6)Requires the TAC to report biennially to the Governor and the
Legislature on its evaluation of oil spill response and
preparedness programs within the state and may prepare and
send any additional reports it determines to be appropriate to
the Governor and the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor, absorbable costs.
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COMMENTS : In the wake of the March 24, 1989, Exxon Valdez oil
spill in Alaska (which spilled approximately 11 million gallons
of crude oil) and the February 7, 1990, American Trader oil
spill near Huntington Beach (which spilled approximately 300,000
gallons of crude oil), the Legislature passed the
Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act
(Oil Spill Act). The overall purpose of the Oil Spill Act is to
prevent and clean up oil spills and to restore damage to the
environment. OSPR and SLC are vested with the primary
responsibility for implementing the Oil Spill Act.
One component of the Oil Spill Act was the creation of the TAC.
The TAC provides public input and independent review and
evaluation of the actions of OSPR. The TAC consists of 10
members, six of whom are appointed by the Governor, two by the
Speaker of the Assembly, and two by the Senate Rules Committee.
The membership must have background in marine transportation,
local government, oil spill response and prevention programs,
the petroleum industry, state government, environmental
protection and ecosystems, and the dry cargo vessel industry.
Pursuant to its by-laws, TAC members serve until they are either
replaced by the appointing authority, a member resigns, or a
member is asked for their resignation after a vote of at least
two-thirds of the appointed TAC members.
Since 2003, the TAC has been required to report biennially to
the Governor and the Legislature on its evaluation of oil spill
prevention and response within the state. The TAC may also
prepare and send any additional reports it determines to be
appropriate to the Governor and the Legislature.
The TAC meets at least on a quarterly basis throughout the year.
All TAC meetings are open to the public pursuant to the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, and portions of each meeting are
devoted to public input on any issue affecting California's oil
spill programs.
This bill amends the TAC statutes by replacing the requirement
that the Governor appoint a person who has worked in state
government with the requirement that the Governor appoint a
person who is a faculty member of the WHC or the director of the
OWCN. It should be noted that the vice-chair of the WHC
currently sits on the TAC, with her alternate being the director
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of the OWCN.
The Governor currently has a budget proposal to strengthen the
state's oil spill program with regard to inland oil spills. The
impetus for the Governor's proposal is connected to the recent,
dramatic increase in the amount of oil transported to the state
by rail, which will grow steeply in the next 10 years due to the
hydraulic fracturing boom in other areas of the country
(particularly North Dakota with its Bakken oil shale formation).
The possible routes for trains carrying oil into the state are
located along and through several waterways and most of the
state's major metropolitan areas. The potential for train
accidents and oil spills in these areas has created a heightened
level of public anxiety, especially in light of several tragic
oil-by-rail accidents in both the United States and Canada
during the last year.
Some of these anxieties are illustrated by a recent lawsuit
filed by environmental groups and environmental justice
organizations against an oil-by-rail operation in Richmond,
California. The complaint targets a specific oil-by-rail
operation that "brings highly volatile and explosive North
Dakotan Bakken crude oil to Bay Area refineries in the
same?[type of] trains that derailed last July and exploded,
killing nearly fifty people and decimating half the downtown
area of Lac-M�gantic, Qu�bec." The complaint raises concerns
about the risks to the project's surroundings, which consist of
"working class communities of color, where residents already
bear a disproportionate share of environmental harms? from the
nearby Chevron refinery? [and other industrial activities] in
the area."
In light of the emerging oil-by-rail issue and concerns by the
public, the Assembly Natural Resources Committee amended the
bill to add two additional members to the TAC: an inland
environmentalist and a representative of an environmental
justice group. These members will be appointed by the Governor.
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0003574
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