AB 2056

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law provides for the regulation and licensing of pilots for Monterey Bay and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. Existing law also establishes, in the Transportation Agency, a Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun (Board of Pilot Commissioners) and prescribes the membership, functions, and duties of the Board of Pilot Commissioners with regard to the licensure and regulation of bar pilots. Existing law prescribes the rates of bar pilotage required to be charged by pilots and paid by vessels inward and outward bound through those bays and requires the Board of Pilot Commissioners to recommend that the Legislature, by statute, adopt a schedule of pilotage rates providing fair and reasonable return to pilots engaged in movements other than bar pilotage. Existing law imposes a board operations surcharge of up to 7.5% of all pilotage charges, which is paid by pilots to the Board of Pilot Commissioners. Existing law also imposes, among other things, an incremental rate of additional mills per high gross registered ton as is necessary and authorized by the Board of Pilot Commissioners to recover a pilot's costs of obtaining new pilot boats and of funding design and engineering modifications. Existing law requires all moneys received by the Board of Pilot Commissioners to be paid into the State Treasury to the credit of the Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund, moneys in which are continuously appropriated for the payment of the compensation and expenses of the Board of Pilot Commissioners and its officers and employees. This bill would revise and recast the pilot boat surcharge provisions, including specifying that the costs of obtaining new pilot boats includes preliminary design and engineering and the costs of repowering existing pilot boats or the acquisition of new pilot boats in order to meet the requirements of any rule governing the emissions of commercial harbor craft adopted by the State Air Resources Board. The bill would authorize the pilot boat surcharge to be collected prospectively before the imposition of certain costs, as prescribed. The bill would impose related requirements on the Board of Pilot Commissioners, including, among others, auditing or causing to be audited all pilot boat surcharges. The bill would authorize the Board of Pilot Commissioners to adjust the amount of the surcharge as necessary to efficiently administer the pilot boat surcharge. The bill would require the moneys charged and collected each month from the pilot boat surcharge to be paid to the Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund and credited to the Pilot Boat Surcharge Account, which the bill would establish in the Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the account to fund the pilot boat costs of obtaining new pilot boats and of funding design and engineering modifications for the purposes of extending the service life of existing pilot boats, excluding costs for repair or maintenance, and to cover the administrative costs of the Board of Pilot Commissioners with respect to administration of the account, as specified. By continuously appropriating moneys in the account, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would establish maximum expenditure levels at specified monetary amounts for the account based on fiscal year. The bill would increase the rates of bar pilotage required to be charged by pilots and paid by vessels inward and outward bound through those bays to a minimum of $3,000 on and after January 1, 2024, for each vessel piloted. The bill would also increase pilotage rates providing fair and reasonable return to pilots engaged in movements other than bar pilotage by 15% on January 1, 2023, except as otherwise established by the bill for certain types of ship movements, and would delete the requirement that the Board of Pilot Commissioners recommend a schedule of those pilotage rates to the Legislature. By increasing pilotage rates, which may thereby increase the amount of the board operations surcharge and the amount of moneys paid into the continuously appropriated Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would establish, in addition to other charges for pilotage, temporary transit charges at specified amounts for all vessels moved across the bar, with specified exceptions, and for all bay moves and river moves. The bill would make inoperative the temporary transit charges as of the date the Board of Pilot Commissioners publishes the first pilotage tariff pursuant to the bill, as described below. (2) Existing law requires the Board of Pilot Commissioners, from time to time, to review pilotage expenses and establish guidelines for the evaluation and application of these expenses regarding its recommendations for adjustments in rates. Existing law authorizes any party directly affected by pilotage rates established under that provision to petition the Board of Pilot Commissioners for a public hearing, as prescribed. This bill would repeal those provisions. The bill would require the Board of Pilot Commissioners, pursuant to prescribed procedures, to adopt, and cause to be published, a pilotage tariff that establishes fair, just, reasonable, and sufficient rates for the provision of a safe, competent, reliable, and efficient pilotage service. The bill would establish procedures to request a change in the established pilotage rates, including procedures for petitions, notice, comment, hearings and orders, and review. The bill would authorize the adopted pilotage tariff to include the reasonable costs for the setting of tariff rates of the Office of Administrative Hearings and would require those moneys to be paid into, and continuously appropriated from, the Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would provide that pilotage rates imposed pursuant to specified existing law are subject to adjustment under these provisions. Because an increase in pilotage rates may thereby increase the amount of the board operations surcharge and the amount of moneys paid into the continuously appropriated Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the Board of Pilot Commissioners, after the adoption of the first pilotage tariff, to convene a committee to review the effectiveness of the revised ratesetting process and to present and submit a related report to the Legislature, the Governor, and the Secretary of Transportation, as specified. (3) Under existing law, a pilot who is carried to sea against the pilot's will or unnecessarily detained on board a vessel, as provided, is entitled to receive $600 per day, plus expenses, from the owner, operator, or agents of the detaining vessel, or a higher amount as determined pursuant to existing law. This bill would instead specify that this amount, on and after January 1, 2023, is $5,000 per day plus expenses incurred in returning, subject to adjustment by the board. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.