Oil spill prevention and administration fee: State Lands Commission.

(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, including drills and preparedness, and oil spill containment and cleanup, and to represent the state in any coordinated response efforts with the federal government. The act requires the administrator to periodically carry out announced and unannounced drills to test response and cleanup operations, equipment, contingency plans, and procedures. This bill would require the administrator to develop and implement a screening mechanism and a comprehensive risk-based monitoring program for inspecting the bunkering and lightering operations of vessels at anchor and alongside a dock. The bill also would require that the administrator identify bunkering and lightering operations that pose the highest risk of a pollution incident and coordinate with the United States Coast Guard to routinely monitor and inspect those operations. The bill would require the administrator to establish regulations to provide for the best achievable protection during bunkering and lightering operations in the marine environment. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2015. (2) Existing law imposes an oil spill prevention and administration fee in an amount determined by the administrator to be sufficient to implement oil spill prevention activities, but not to exceed $0.05 per barrel of crude oil or petroleum products, on persons owning crude oil or petroleum products at a marine terminal. The fee is deposited into the Oil Spill Prevention and Administration Fund in the State Treasury. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys in the fund are available for specified purposes. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2012, revise that fee to an amount not to exceed $0.065 per barrel of crude oil or petroleum products and, beginning January 1, 2015, to an amount not to exceed $0.05. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to contract with the Department of Finance to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2005, a detailed report on the financial basis and programmatic effectiveness of the state's oil spill prevention, response, and preparedness program. This bill would require the Department of Fish and Game and the State Lands Commission, independently, to contract with the Department of Finance to prepare and submit that report to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2013, and no less than once every 4 years thereafter. (4) Under existing law, the State Lands Commission has jurisdiction over state lands and ungranted tidelands and submerged lands owned by the state. This bill would require the State Lands Commission, on or before March 1, 2012, in consultation with the Department of Conservation, to report to the Legislature on regulatory action, pending or already taken, and statutory recommendations for the Legislature to ensure maximum safety and prevention of harm during offshore oil drilling. This provision would be repealed on January 1, 2016.