SB 804: Hydrogen Pipeline Safety Act.

(1)The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981 requires the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations relating to intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of hazardous liquid substances or highly volatile liquid substances. The act requires these regulations to comply with federal law, which defines hazardous liquid to include, among others, petroleum, petroleum products, and ethanol or other nonpetroleum fuel. Federal law also defines highly volatile liquid substances to mean a hazardous liquid that will form a vapor cloud when released, as provided. The act governs various issues related to intrastate pipelines, including, among others, pipeline design and construction, pipeline testing, land use restrictions within pipeline easements, reporting and document retention requirements on pipeline operators, pipeline inspections, emergency protocols, and enforcement.

This bill would enact the Hydrogen Pipeline Safety Act, a regulatory program, similar to the Elder California Pipeline Safety Act, governing pipelines dedicated to transporting hydrogen, to be administered by the State Fire Marshal, as specified. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations governing various issues related to the operation and safety of hydrogen pipelines, including those listed above.

The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act authorizes the State Fire Marshal to assess and collect an annual fee from each operator of a pipeline regulated by the act for the purposes of carrying out the act, as provided.

This bill would similarly authorize the State Fire Marshal to assess and collect an annual fee from each hydrogen pipeline operator for the purposes of carrying out the bill. The bill would establish the California Hydrogen Pipeline Safety Fund consisting of 2 accounts, the Pipeline Operations Account and the Local Training Account, and would require specified fees to be deposited into the Pipeline Operations Account and specified civil penalties provided for by the bill into the Local Training Account. The bill would make the moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Fire Marshal for specified purposes.

The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act requires that a person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act be subject to a fine of not more than $25,000, imprisonment, or both, as provided. The act requires a person who willfully and knowingly defaces, damages, removes, or destroys any hazardous liquid pipeline sign or right-of-way marker required by law to be subject to a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment, or both, as provided.

This bill would require the same penalties described above to be imposed on a person who willfully and knowingly violates a provision of the bill or a regulation issued pursuant to the bill or defaces, damages, removes, or destroys any hydrogen pipeline sign or right-of-way marker required by law. By creating new crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(2)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.