BILL ANALYSIS
SB 578
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 578 (Escutia)
As Amended June 29, 2005
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :34-4
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 7-0
TRANSPORTATION 10-3
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|Ayes:|Ruskin, Tran, Chu, De La |Ayes:|Oropeza, Bogh, Chan, |
| |Torre, Goldberg, Lieber, | |Shirley Horton, Karnette, |
| |Strickland | |Hancock, Pavley, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Huff, Mountjoy, Niello |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 14-3
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|Ayes:|Chu, Bass, Berg, | | |
| |Calderon, Emmerson, | | |
| |Laird, Klehs, Leno, | | |
| |Nakanishi, Nation, | | |
| |Levine, Saldana, Yee, | | |
| |Mullin | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Sharon Runner, Haynes, | | |
| |Walters | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires railroads to report information about
uncontrolled train movement incidents to the Office of Emergency
Services (OES), whether or not a spill or release occurs, if the
incident could have affected public health and safety. Requires
the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to investigate
the incident. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a railroad corporation, if there is a runaway train
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or any other uncontrolled train movement, involving a load of
hazardous materials, that threatens public health and safety,
to include in their OES notification the same information that
would be required if the uncontrolled train movement had
resulted in the release of hazardous material.
2)Directs the PUC's division of consumer protection and safety
to investigate any uncontrolled train movement that involves
any railcar containing hazardous material and to include its
findings in an annual report to the Legislature on sites along
railroad lines found by the state to be hazardous.
3)Replaces the references to the PUC's division of "safety" to
the division of "consumer protection and safety" to match the
current name of the division.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires railroads to annually submit to OES handling
guidelines for the transportation of hazardous materials.
2)Requires railroads, if there is a train incident resulting in
a release of hazardous materials, or an overturned car or an
impact that threatens a release of hazardous materials, to
provide the emergency response agency with the following: a)
a list of each car in the train and the order of the cars; b)
the contents of each car; c) the identification of the cars
and contents in the train involved in the incident; and, d)
emergency procedures for the release of a hazardous material.
3)Requires railroads to promptly notify OES if there is a
runaway train or any other uncontrolled train movement that
threatens health and safety.
4)Defines, under federal regulations, hazardous material to mean
"a substance or material that the Secretary of Transportation
has determined is capable of posing an unreasonable risk to
health, safety, and property when transported in commerce, and
has been designated as hazardous pursuant to" federal
hazardous materials transportation law. The term includes
poisonous or explosive substances, hazardous wastes, marine
pollutants, and radionuclides. The term generally does not
include petroleum, crude oil natural gas, liquefied natural
gas, or synthetic gas usable for fuel.
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5)Requires PUC to file an annual report to the Legislature on
railroad sites in California that the state finds to be
hazardous.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to Assembly Appropriations Committee
analysis:
1)Minor costs, if any, to OES and the California Highway Patrol
to process a larger number of incident notifications from
railroad corporations. (General Fund and Motor Vehicle
Account.)
2)Minor costs, in the range of $120,000 annually starting in FY
2005-06, to the PUC's consumer protections and safety division
to investigate a larger number of incidents and to report its
findings to the full commission. (PUC Transportation
Reimbursement Account.)
COMMENTS :
1)According to the author, this has been a bad year for train
accidents. In January 2005, a train accident in South
Carolina resulted in a chlorine gas spill. That accident
killed nine, injured hundreds and led to the evacuation of
5,400 people. Also in January, a train accident in Glendale
killed 11 and hospitalized over 200 people.
2)The author also draws focus to an incident closer to home that
occurred on June 20, 2003, in which 31 cars of a Union Pacific
freight train escaped from a rail yard in Montclair, rolling
uncontrolled through Pomona and reaching speeds of up to 86
mph. Twenty-five minutes after breaking free, and 28 miles
down the tracks, the cars were intentionally derailed in the
City of Commerce destroying two homes, damaging several more,
but causing no loss of life. This accident was the catalyst
for a state law requiring railroads to notify OES of any
uncontrolled train movement that threatens public health and
safety.
3)This bill expands this requirement to those instances where
there is any uncontrolled train movement involving railcars
carrying hazardous materials. Such notification shall include
the list of railcars and order of the cars, their contents,
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and emergency handling procedures for the hazardous materials
in those railcars.
4)Federal regulations require railcars carrying specified
hazardous materials to carry external warning placards. These
placards, required on both ends of the railcar, identify the
class of hazard (e.g., explosives, toxic materials,
radioactive). The federal Department of Homeland Security
(HSec) is concerned that the placards will help terrorists
find targets. DHS has therefore proposed eliminating the
placard requirement, making it much more difficult for
terrorists to identify targets but also making it harder for
public safety agencies to identify and properly respond to
hazardous material spills. Recently however, HSec announced
that it will continue the placarding program for rail
transport of hazardous materials.
5)This bill requires the information gathered by the PUC to be
included in its annual report regarding sites along railroad
lines in the state that PUC finds to be hazardous. This
report shall include, but not be limited to:
a) Information on all of the following: i) a list of all
railroad derailment accident sites in the state on which
accidents have occurred within at least the previous five
years; ii) the nature and probable causes of the accidents;
and, iii) whether the accidents occurred at or near sites
that CPUC felt were hazardous; and,
b) A list of all railroad sites in the state that PUC feels
pose a local safety hazard. Factors that PUC shall
consider in determining a local safety hazard may include:
i) special skills of train operators in negotiating
particular segments of railroad line; ii) special railroad
equipment used in negotiating particular segments of
railroad line; iii) types of commodities transported on or
near particular segments of railroad line; iv) hazards
posed by the release of the commodity into the environment;
and, v) proximity of railroad activity to human activity or
sensitive environmental areas.
Related legislation: SB 419 (Simitian) This bill requires OES
to create and maintain a hazardous rail tank car database, which
contains specified information, including a current certificate
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of compliance provided by the legal owner or lessee of the rail
tank car stating that the rail tank car meets certain standards.
This bill has been held in the Assembly Committee on
Transportation.
Analysis Prepared by : Michael Endicott/ E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
FN: 0012103