BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1312| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1312 Author: O'Donnell (D) Amended: 4/15/15 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/9/15 AYES: Pavley, Stone, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson, Monning, Vidak, Wolk SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 6-0, 7/1/15 AYES: Wieckowski, Bates, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley NO VOTE RECORDED: Gaines SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/7/15 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Ballast water management SOURCE: California State Lands Commission DIGEST: This bill delays implementation of California's performance standards for vessels that discharge ballast water in the state, expands the State Lands Commission's (commission) vessel inspection authority to include biofouling management, and makes clarifying and streamlining changes to various related code sections. ANALYSIS: Existing law establishes the Marine Invasive Species Act (act) (Public Resources Code (PRC) §§ 71200 et seq.) that seeks to limit the introduction of nonindigenous species into AB 1312 Page 2 state waters. The act: 1)Focuses on ballast water management, sediments from the ballast water that may be discharged from the ship and biofouling (i.e. when organisms attach and grow on wetted surfaces of the vessel including, for example, the hull, anchors, and so on). 2)Requires the commission to adopt regulations necessary to implement the act which shall include, as appropriate, restrictions or prohibitions on discharge of ballast water containing nonindigenous species using "the best available technology economically achievable", as specified. 3)Considers the size of the vessel and its voyage prior to entering California waters in the establishment of ballast water management requirements, as specified, among other provisions. 4)Provides for the establishment of interim treatment standards and their phased-in implementation - by either January 1, 2016 or January 1, 2018 - as a function of ballast water capacity and vessel age, and the establishment of final performance standards for the discharge of ballast water of "zero detectable living organisms" for any size organism by 2020. 5)Further provides for regulations to be adopted governing the use of shipboard experimental ballast water treatment systems. If an owner of a vessel applies to install an experimental system and is approved by the commission prior to January 1, 2016, the system shall be deemed to be in compliance with any future treatment standard for up to five years from when the interim treatment standards are established. 6)Requires that certain specified information be provided to the commission regarding ballast water management information upon AB 1312 Page 3 the vessel's departure from its port or place of call in the state, and requires that the commission, in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard, sample ballast water and sediment from at least 25% of arriving vessels subject to the act. This bill delays implementation of California's performance standards for vessels that discharge ballast water in the state, expands the commission's vessel inspection authority to include biofouling management, and makes clarifying and streamlining changes to various related code sections. Specifically, this bill: 1)Delays until January 1, 2020, the deadline for the owner/operator of a vessel to apply for and for the commission to approve the use an experimental ballast water treatment system, as specified. 2)Delays from 2020 to 2026 the implementation of the final performance standards for the discharge of ballast water of zero detectable living organisms regardless of size. 3)Revises the phase-in for interim ballast water regulations by deleting the weight classification system and making it apply to all vessels for first arrival at a California port for new vessels constructed on or after January 1, 2020, or as of first drydocking on or after January 1, 2020, for all other vessels. 4)Requires that the master provide information regarding the vessel, voyage and ballast water management system, as specified, to the commission at least 24 hours before the vessel arrives at a California port, or, if the voyage is less than 24 hours in total, shall report the information prior to departing. 5)Clarifies that the commission's activities, in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard, of 25% of arriving vessels to assess compliance includes sampling of biofouling, and inspection, as specified. 6)Deletes obsolete provisions and makes additional technical and clarifying changes to provide statutory consistency. AB 1312 Page 4 Background According to the commission, ballast water discharge and vessel biofouling (i.e. the growth of organisms on the wetted surfaces of the vessel) of commercial ships are significant vectors for the introduction of invasive species in coastal environments. Once established, invasive species can devastate native aquatic life and costs hundreds of millions of dollars or more to control. The most effective form of control is to prevent introduction of the nonindigenous invasive species. Vessel ballast water management has long been recognized as an important method to limit the spread of invasive species. In August 2014, the commission approved a report assessing the availability of treatment technologies to meet the state's performance standards for ballast water discharge. The report reviewed several options for compliance. However, there are currently no viable shipboard or shore-based treatment options to meet all of California's discharge standards. Comments Previous delays of interim performance standards. Because of the commission's earlier findings on the availability of treatment technologies, the Legislature has already twice delayed the implementation dates for ballast water interim performance standards. In 2008, the Legislature delayed implementation for new vessels with ballast water capacity less than 5,000 metric tons from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010. In 2013, it further delayed implementation for all vessels by an additional two to six years (phasing in in 2016 and 2018) depending on when the vessel was constructed and the vessel's ballast water capacity. This bill represents an 11-year delay from the earliest original implementation date (to 2020) and to delay the final performance standard to 2026 (a six-year delay from the original implementation date). AB 1312 Page 5 Current status of ballast water treatment systems. In 2014, the commission produced a report that evaluated the availability of ballast water treatment technologies capable of meeting the California ballast water discharge performance standards. The report reviewed both shore-based and shipboard methods. No shore-based treatment facilities exist in the United States. Also, no shipboard ballast water treatment systems can currently meet California's standards. There are multiple reasons why the California standards cannot be met with current technology. These include: (1) no single system can meet all of the standards, (2) there are no appropriate protocols for the analysis of ballast water samples and (3) there are a lack of sampling and compliance protocols. The commission indicated that it is working on promulgating compliance assessment protocols which should resolve the questions about accurate testing procedures. Industry should have years to determine how to comply with the standards given their promulgation (anticipated by January 1, 2017) far in advance of the proposed effective date. Related Legislation AB 433 (Nation, Chapter 491, Statutes of 2003) consolidated the law related to the management of ballast water into the act, and revised various requirements for ballast water management practices to minimize the release of nonindigenous species. SB 497 (Simitian, Chapter 292, Statutes of 2006) enacted the Coastal Ecosystems Protection Act which established the interim and final performances standards for the discharge of ballast water from large commercial ships. The effective date for the interim standards was January 1, 2009, and for the final standards was January 1, 2020, for "zero detectable living organisms." AB 740 (Laird, Chapter 370, Statutes of 2007) modified the act to include the fouling of vessel hulls with microorganisms. SB 1781 (Committee on Environmental Quality, Chapter 696, Statutes of 2008) delayed the implementation of ballast water performance standards for new vessels with ballast water AB 1312 Page 6 capacity less than 5000 metric tons from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010. AB 248 (Lowenthal, Chapter 248, Statutes of 2009) required the person in charge of a vessel to maintain and submit to the commission specified information related to the vessel's ballast water treatment system. SB 935 (Committee on Environmental Quality, Chapter 550, Statutes of 2012) delayed the date for which the commission must approve a vessel operator's application to install an experimental ballast water treatment system from January 1, 2008 to January 1, 2016. It also revised "hull fouling" to "biofouling" and incorporated certain performance standards into statue. SB 814 (Committee on Natural Resources and Water, Chapter 472, Statutes of 2013) delayed implementation of ballast water performance standards for vessels that carry, or are capable of carrying, ballast water into the state by two to six years, depending on when the ship was constructed and its ballast water capacity. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified7/14/15) California State Lands Commission (source) California Association of Port Authorities California Chamber of Commerce Cruise Lines International Association Maersk Pacific Merchant Shipping Association OPPOSITION: (Verified7/14/15) None received AB 1312 Page 7 ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, "[a]pproximately 15 percent of large vessels arriving at California ports must discharge ballast water for operational or safety purposes. These vessels need a method of ensuring that any discharged ballast water is in compliance with California's performance standards. No shore-based treatment facilities exist or are in development in the United States, and currently available shipboard treatment systems have not demonstrated the ability to meet the California performance standards. This lack of options available to the shipping industry presents a major obstacle to the implementation of the performance standards." "AB 1312 delays implementation of California's ballast water performance standards until 2020 to enable further development of treatment technologies and the adoption of regulations to specify the methods that will be used for compliance assessment. This delay effectively eliminates the interim performance standards and preserves the deadline on achieving the "no detectable living organisms" standard. This delay provides the [commission] with time to adopt compliance assessment regulations that will give the shipping industry clear guidance on how to conform to these regulations." ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/7/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Roger Hernández, Steinorth Prepared by:Katharine Moore / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116 7/15/15 15:27:52 AB 1312 Page 8 **** END ****