AB 2931: Pipeline safety: records.

The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981 requires the State Fire Marshal to administer provisions regulating the inspection of intrastate pipelines that transport hazardous liquids. The act requires a pipeline operator to make available to the State Fire Marshal, or any officers or employees authorized by the State Fire Marshal, upon presentation of appropriate credentials, any records, maps, or written procedures that are required by the act to be kept by the pipeline operator and that concern accident reporting, design, construction, testing, or operation and maintenance. The act authorizes the State Fire Marshal, or any officer or employee authorized by the State Fire Marshal, to enter, inspect, and examine, at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, the records and properties of any pipeline operators that are required to be inspected and examined to determine whether the pipeline operator is in compliance with the act. A person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act is, upon conviction, subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both a fine and imprisonment, as provided.

Existing law authorizes the State Fire Marshal to act as agent for the United States Secretary of Transportation to implement the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 and federal pipeline safety regulations as to those portions of interstate pipelines located within the state, as necessary to obtain annual federal certification.

This bill would revise and recast those state provisions relating to record maintenance and inspection and would authorize the State Fire Marshal, for purposes of carrying out the requirements of state or federal law relating to hazardous liquid pipeline safety, to require the owner or operator of a pipeline to establish and maintain records, make reports, and provide any information that the State Fire Marshal reasonably requires, as provided. The bill would authorize the State Fire Marshal to disclose records, reports, or other information required to be maintained pursuant to the act to an officer, employee, or authorized representative of the state or the United States for purposes of carrying out the requirements of the act or the federal act, or when relevant to a proceeding pursuant to the act. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would revise the act to conform references to the federal act. The bill would make other nonsubstantive changes to, and repeal an obsolete provision of, the act.

The act defines pipeline for its purposes, and excludes from that definition a pipeline for the transportation of crude oil that operates by gravity or at a stress level of 20 percent or less of the specified minimum yield strength of the pipe.

This bill would expand the definition of pipeline by repealing that exclusion, subjecting these additional pipelines to regulation pursuant to the act. Because the bill would expand the application of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law requires pressure tests on certain pipelines be conducted in accordance with certain federal pipeline safety regulations and requires results from those pressure tests not show an hourly change for each section of the pipeline under test at the time that violates specified standards.

This bill would repeal those specific test result requirements.

Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to establish and maintain a centralized database containing information and data regarding certain intrastate pipelines. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to regularly update the database and to make the information in the database available to the public. Existing law provides that the cost of implementing this requirement is to be funded from federal block grant funds and is operative only upon receipt of the federal block grant funds as determined by the State Fire Marshal.

This bill would repeal the funding and contingent operation provisions.

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.