Railroad Tank Car Hazardous Materials Safety Fund.

Existing law establishes the Railroad Accident Prevention and Immediate Deployment Force in the California Environmental Protection Agency and designates the force as being responsible for providing immediate onsite response capability in the event of a large-scale release of toxic materials resulting from a surface transportation accident. Existing law requires the agency to develop a state railroad accident prevention and immediate deployment plan, in consultation with specified state entities, other potentially affected state, local, or federal agencies, and affected businesses, and designates the force as being responsible for implementing the plan, acting cooperatively and in concert with existing local emergency response units. The plan is to be a comprehensive set of policies and directions that every potentially affected state agency and business is required to follow if there is a railroad accident to minimize the potential damage to the public health and safety, property, and the environment that might result from accidents involving railroad activities in the state. This bill would impose a fee in an unspecified amount upon every owner of hazardous material at the time that hazardous material is transported on rail by a tank car in this state. The bill would require a railroad to collect the fee from the owner of the hazardous material and to pay the fee to the State Board of Equalization. The bill would also require every person who operates a railroad that transports hazardous materials by tank car to register with the board and to remit the fees to the board pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would create the Railroad Tank Car Hazardous Materials Safety Fund in the State Treasury and would require that all revenues, interest, penalties, and other amounts collected pursuant to the bill's requirements be deposited into the fund, less refunds and reimbursement to the board for expenses incurred in the administration and collection of the railroad tank car hazardous material fee. The bill would require that all moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be used by the Department of Toxic Substances Control to pay for planning, developing, and maintaining a capability for emergency response to railroad accidents involving tank cars carrying hazardous materials, including the risks of explosions and fires, and planning, developing, and maintaining a capability for emergency response to releases of hazardous materials from tank cars, including reducing the harmful effects of exposure of those hazardous materials to humans and the environment. The bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require moneys from the fund be available to the board to pay for the board's administrative costs associated with implementation of the railroad tank car hazardous material fee, which would be advanced from the General Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, subject to repayment once the fees are collected. The Fee Collection Procedures Law makes a violation of any provision of the law, or of certain requirements imposed by the board pursuant to the law, a crime. By expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.