Railroad and surface transportation safety and emergency planning and response: hazardous materials.

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. Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services and makes the office responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. Existing law requires the office to serve as the central point of state government for the emergency reporting of spills, unauthorized releases, or other accidental releases of hazardous materials and to coordinate the notification of the appropriate state and local administering agencies that may be required to respond to those spills, unauthorized releases, or other accidental releases. This bill would create the Regional Railroad and Surface Transportation Accident Preparedness and Immediate Response Force in the Office of Emergency Services, consisting of specified representatives, and would designate this force as being responsible for providing regional and onsite response capabilities in the event of a release of hazardous materials from a rail car or a railroad accident involving a rail car or a hazardous materials release from a truck accident. This bill would require the office to develop a state regional railroad and surface transportation accident preparedness and immediate response plan, in consultation with specified entities, and would require that plan to become an annex to the state emergency plan. This bill would require the force and the Office of Spill Prevention and Response to coordinate in their respective authorities and responsibilities to avoid any duplication of effort, ensure cooperation, and promote the sharing of information regarding the risk of discharge of petroleum by rail into state waters. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to biennially review the training of all emergency response personnel with responsibilities along rail lines and other surface transportation routes to ascertain the level of readiness to respond to an accident and to identify all equipment and response assets available to respond to a spill or discharge of a hazardous material. This bill would require the director to establish a schedule of fees to determine the amount of a fee to be paid by a person owning hazardous materials that are transported by rail or surface transportation in California. The bill would require that the fees be fair, as required by the federal Hazardous Materials Transportation Act, and state the intent of the Legislature that the schedule of fees reflect the proportionate risks to both the public safety and the environment resulting from a release of hazardous materials and the expense of preparing to respond to those risks. The bill would authorize the director to exempt from the fee a shipment of hazardous materials that meets certain criteria and would prohibit the collection of fees in excess of the reasonable regulatory costs to the state. The bill would also require every person who operates a railroad that transports hazardous materials by rail 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 Regional Railroad and Surface Transportation Accident Preparedness and Immediate Response 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 fee. The bill would require that moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be used by the director for specified purposes. This bill would limit the amount available for appropriation from the fund to $10,000,000 in any calendar year. For any fee imposed upon persons and corporations owning crude oil or petroleum products that are transported by rail, the bill would provide for an offset of the amount of the fee against the amount of the fee imposed pursuant to the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act. 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.