Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes the Office of Emergency Services, which is responsible for the states emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or human-induced disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters on people and property. Under existing law, the Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with all interested state agencies with designated response roles in the state emergency plan and interested local emergency management agencies, is required to jointly establish by regulation a standardized emergency management system for use by all emergency response agencies.

This bill would require the California State Warning Center, within the Office of Emergency Services, to develop a process for private-sector fuel transporters to voluntarily share information, as specified, for the purpose of providing fuel to local and state public-safety agencies actively involved in responding to or recovering from a disaster.

Date of Hearing: May 10, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Chris Holden, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1303

Author:(Rodriguez) – As Introduced Ver:February 16, 2023

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires the California State Warning Center (CSWC) to develop a process for private-sector fuel transporters to voluntarily share specified information to facilitate the provision of fuel to local and state public safety agencies actively involved in responding to or recovering from a disaster.

FISCAL EFFECT:

Annual costs of an unknown, but likely significant amount, in excess of $150,000, to the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to develop and maintain the specified information sharing system.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author:

Fire engines and other critical response resources do not operate for long without fuel. The anticipated scarcity of fuel following major earthquakes may exacerbate the threat of uncontrolled fires following earthquakes and significantly impede urban search and rescue efforts.

This bill is supported by the California Fuels and Convenience Alliance and County of Napa.

1. CSWC. OES’s CSWC is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to identify potential and emerging threats across the state, give alert notification of threats to all levels of government and provide critical situational awareness during an emergency or disaster. CSWC staff make over 1 million notifications annually due to weather-related warnings, fires, power outages, seismic incidents and other potentially significant incidents that may have emergency management impacts.

This bill requires the CSWC to develop a process for private sector fuel transporters to voluntarily share information about the amount and location of fuel scheduled or available for transport with local and state public safety agencies providing disaster response and recovery. This bill does not provide a definition for “fuel” or “fuel transporters,” so it is unclear whether the scope of this bill extends to electricity transmission or other non-petroleum fuels used by emergency response vehicles.

Analysis Prepared by: Irene Ho / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 17, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Freddie Rodriguez, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1303 (

Author:Rodriguez) – As Introduced Ver:February 16, 2023

SUBJECT: California Emergency Services Act: disaster preparedness

SUMMARY: Would require the California State Warning Center (CSWC), within the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), to develop a process for maintaining situational awareness of available fuel following a disaster based on information voluntary submitted to the CSWC, as specified. Specifically, this bill:

1. Would require the California State Warning Center (CSWC), within the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), to develop a process for private-sector fuel transporters to voluntarily share information for the purpose of providing fuel to local and state public-safety agencies actively involved in responding to or recovering from a disaster.
2. Specifies information regarding fuel shared with the CSWC may include the amount of fuel being transported, or scheduled to be transported, and the location of fuel available to be transported.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Under the California Emergency Services Act, establishes the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) within the office of the Governor for the purpose of mitigating the effects of natural, manmade, or war-caused emergencies. (Government Code Section 8550)
2. Requires the Cal OES Director to coordinate all state disaster response, emergency planning, emergency preparedness, disaster recovery, disaster mitigation, and homeland security activities. (Government Code Section 8585.1)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.

COMMENTS:

Purpose of the bill: According to the author, “The State of California faces the most complex and severe disaster conditions in the nation and these challenges and complexities grow in magnitude each year. In the past decade, California has experienced every conceivable type of natural and manmade disaster including flood, pandemic, drought, earthquake, catastrophic wildfire, mudslides, dam failure, cyber security attacks, oil spills, natural gas leak, civil unrest, terrorism, and tsunami.”

“Some of the most challenging consequences of a number of California’s risks are disruptions to electricity and fuel pipelines. For example, Red Flag warnings in the Wildland Urban Interface may result in extended power outages to avoid the risk of catastrophic wildfires. Similarly, major earthquakes in the Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Area may result in both ruptured fuel lines and an extended loss of power,” added the author.

“Fire engines and other critical response resources do not operate for long without fuel. The anticipated scarcity of fuel following major earthquakes may exacerbate the threat of uncontrolled fires following earthquakes and significantly impede urban search and rescue efforts,” concludes the author.

Equity Impact: According to the author’s staff, “disasters have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities. This bill seeks to ensure a critical lifeline, fuel, is available to first responders to help those in need following a disaster.”

Disasters in California: The State of California arguably faces the most complex and severe disaster conditions in the nation and these challenges and complexities have grown in magnitude each year. In the past decade, Cal OES and our local partners have experienced every conceivable type of natural and manmade disaster including drought, earthquake, flood, catastrophic wildfire, mudslides, dam failure, cyber security attacks, oil spills, natural gas leaks, civil unrest, terrorism, and tsunamis.

According to Cal OES, “California has moved into a new chapter of emergency management, disaster response, and recovery in the state. Emergencies and disasters are more frequent, more complicated, often involving multiple counties and regions of the state, and the resulting recovery for communities is much longer. The impacts of climate change continue to intensify and lengthen fire season in California. Over the past five years, the state has experienced an unprecedented number of emergencies and disasters—including severe drought, catastrophic wildfires, power grid/outage challenges, earthquakes, intensive storms with severe flooding, civil unrest, and COVID-19. In fact, 15 of the most destructive fires in the state’s history have occurred since 2015. California will be recovering from these complex disasters for at least the next decade, while continuing to respond to future disasters.”

Probability of Strong and/or Major Earthquakes: The United States Geological Survey and other scientists estimate a 72-percent probability that at least one earthquake of Magnitude 6.7 or greater, capable of causing widespread damage, will strike the San Francisco Bay Area before 2044. For the Los Angeles region, the same model forecasts a 60-percent probability that an earthquake of Magnitude 6.7 or greater will occur before 2044.

Strong earthquakes of Magnitude 6 to 6.9 strike California on an average of once every two to three years. An earthquake of this size, such as the 1994 Northridge Earthquake (Magnitude 6.7) or the 1983 Coalinga Earthquake (Magnitude 6.7), is capable of causing major damage, if the epicenter is near a densely populated area. Major earthquakes (Magnitude 7 to 7.9) occur in California about once every 10 years.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) modeling for major earthquake scenarios in the Bay Area and Southern California, violent shaking in densely populated areas could result in over 50,000 displaced household and over 30,000 individuals requiring short term shelter.

Public Safety Power Shut-offs (PSPS): The State’s investor-owned electric utilities, notably Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), may shut off electric power, referred to as “de-energization” or Public Safety Power Shut-offs, to protect prevent wildfires. Extended PSPS incidents may interfere with the availability of fuel for vehicles critical to emergency response.

Emergency Plans Anticipate Disruption to Fuel Supplies: Cities in California maintain extensive complex infrastructures that provide residents, commuters, and visitors with critical services and key resources, such as water, power, sanitation, natural gas, fuel, telecommunications, and other vital services. Each day, dozens of minor interruptions to these services occur across the City as a result of equipment failures, traffic accidents, and other natural and manmade causes. While inconvenient for those directly involved, the majority of these interruptions pass without posing a significant threat to public health or safety.

In contrast, a major interruption to some of these services or resources can cause significant personal and economic hardship for a large number of residents. A failure of one critical infrastructure can potentially have a domino effect, causing other critical infrastructures to fail as well. For example, a severe disruption to the power supply can affect the water and fuel supplies. A prolonged interruption and a delayed recovery response to critical infrastructures will pose a significant threat to the health, safety, and property of its residents.

San Francisco Civil Grand Jury Report regarding Fuel Resilience: According to a June 2021 City and County of San Francisco Civil Grand Jury Report entitled, A Fluid Concern: San Francisco Must Improve Fuel Resilience, “the San Francisco Bay Area is vulnerable to many types of disasters, including natural events such as earthquakes and wildfires and technological threats such as cyberattacks. A major disaster could disrupt essential services—electric power, fuel, water, sewage disposal, communications, and transportation—for extended periods of time. These disruptions could pose major safety risks, and preparing to mitigate the damage from such disruptions is critical. All of these essential services depend on a reliable fuel supply. Fuel shortages, especially in a power outage, will cause many other failures. Vehicles for first responders and service maintainers need gasoline to run. Facilities that run on electricity, such as pumping stations, communications towers, and operations buildings, need diesel fuel for backup generators. After a region-wide disaster, fuel shortages could last for weeks. If fuel runs out, the resulting failures of other essential services would pose a serious life-safety threat. The City and County of San Francisco is insufficiently prepared to prevent this failure from happening.”

Arguments in support: The California Fuels and Convenience Alliance (CFCA) writes in support, “On behalf of the California Fuels and Convenience Alliance (CFCA), representing the majority of the fuel marketers, fuel transporters, and 12,000 gas stations and convenience stores in the state, we respectfully write in support of AB 1303 (Rodriguez), which will provide critical information to local and state agencies as they respond to emergencies. When fuel shortages inevitably do occur, local emergency service departments do not have the appropriate information to find the nearest available fuel supply. AB 1303 simplifies this cumbersome process by directing CalOES to develop a contact list for fuel distributors in the state. This list (which relies on voluntary disclosures from distributors) will help the state to increase its effectiveness and efficiency in responding to disasters. AB 1303 is a commonsense measure that will increase efficiencies and potentially save lives. For these reasons, we are proud to be in support.”

The County of Napa writes in support, “On behalf of the County of Napa Board of Supervisors, I am writing to express our support for Assembly Bill (“AB”) 1303. Since 2017, Napa County has experienced eighteen (18) federally declared disasters. Though each disaster presents unique challenges for responding personnel, the common thread in disaster response operations is the need for stability and predictability in the supply of fuel. This is especially true in planning for the types of regional disasters that challenge transportation and delivery systems. Napa County currently utilizes local contracts to meet its fuel needs, and this bill presents the opportunity to develop next-level processes to effectively plan for fuel needs in the event of a larger-scale disaster.”

Prior legislation: AB 536 (Rodriguez) of the 2021-2022 Session. Would have required Cal OES to prepare a gap analysis of the State’s mutual aid systems on a biennial basis, beginning January 1, 2022. The gap analysis would be based on the firefighting, law enforcement, emergency medical services, mass care, shelter, and hospital surge capacity necessary to react to two simultaneous, major disasters occurring in California. (Held in Senate Committee on Appropriations.)

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California Fuels and Convenience Alliance

County of Napa

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Mike Dayton / E.M. / (916) 319-3802