Andrew Gillies
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KEYT) – Local Assemblymember Gregg Hart has six bills awaiting a signature from the Governor to become law at the close of this latest legislative session.
“I am proud that five of my bills are on Governor Newsom’s desk after passing both the Assembly and Senate,” said Assemblymember Hart. “From protecting our coastal habitat and groundwater resources to strengthening California’s justice system and giving local governments new tools to serve their communities, these bills will make a real difference for Central Coast residents and all Californians.”
The Governor has until Oct. 13 of this year to sign all six bills.
Five of the bills were directly authored by Assemblymember Hart and one, SB 237, adopted language from Hart’s AB 1448 explained his office in a press release Tuesday.
All six bills are detailed below.
SB 237 – Protect the Coast Act
SB 237 requires owners or operators of any facility where an oil spill could impact state waters to obtain a certificate of financial responsibility and publish that certificate on the state Office of Spill Prevention and Response website.
The bill would also require administrators of applicable facilities to seek public input about potential spill volumes and financial responsibility of operators and owners beginning on Jan. 15, 2027, and at least once every ten years after.
The bill expands existing laws concerning compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act, authorizations through the State Air Resources Board, and requiring spike hydrostatic testing for oil pipelines that are six inches or longer and have been out of service for more than five years.
Those specifications only apply to plans to restart three offshore oil platforms off the Gaviota coast and onshore processing facilities at Los Flores Canyon collectively referred to as the Santa Ynez Unit.
The image below, from an informational slide in an investor presentation by Sable Offshore courtesy of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, shows all of the assets purchased by Houston-based Sable Offshore from ExxonMobil in February of 2024, collectively referred to as the Santa Ynez Unit.
Despite claims to have restarted oil production already, Sable Offshore is still facing multiple lawsuits and imposed fines regarding alleged violations of the California Coastal Act of 1976 as well as class actions lawsuits over its production claims that California congressional leaders highlighted Tuesday in formal inquiries with federal regulators about similar claims.
“This bill makes clear that Sable—an out-of-state shell company that has repeatedly violated environmental rules—must undergo environmental review and receive Coastal Commission approval before repairing the corroded pipeline that spilled 105,000 gallons of oil along our coast in 2015,” stated Assemblymember Hart on Tuesday. “I am grateful to my legislative colleagues and the Governor for their partnership, and I look forward to this bill becoming law.”
AB 14 – Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program
AB 14 would require the state’s Ocean Protection Council to participate in the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program alongside local air pollution control districts, establish a statewide voluntary vessel speed reduction program, and add aspects to the program including an incentives program.
The bill would only apply to oceangoing vessels more than 300 gross tons and would require participating air pollution regulatory bodies to submit implementation reports to the state legislature by Dec. 31, 2029.
The Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program celebrated its tenth year in February of this year and was part of previously proposed legislation at the state level during the last legislative term.
“The Santa Barbara voluntary vessel speed reduction program is a prime example of what happens when we prioritize public health, protect the marine ecosystem, and showcase the beneficial partnership between shipping companies, public health agencies, marine sanctuaries, and environmental organizations,” explained Assemblymember Hart in February of last year. “The Santa Barbara Channel is now a globally recognized Whale Heritage Area. The entire world is watching what we do to save whales.”
AB 1108 -Forensic Accountability, Custodial Transparency, and Safety Act
AB 1108 would require any California county where the office of sheriff and the coroner’s office are combined to seek independant medical examinations for in-custody deaths.
Subject counties and sheriffs offices would be required to contract with counties that have independant coroner’s offices or medical examiners or private third-party contractors that meet certain conditions specified in the bill.
California Penal Code § 919(b) specifically empowers county-based grand juries to investigate the condition and management of public prisons, usually oeprated by the local sheriff’s office, in their respective counties.
Of the 58 counties in California, 47 have combined sheriff’s and coroner’s offices including Santa Barbara County, others, such as Ventura County, have an independant Medical Examiner’s Department.
San Luis Obispo County outsources pathology work to San Diego-based NAAG Forensic.
In April of 2024, a Santa Barbara County Grand Jury report identified an inherent conflict of interest regarding medical examinations for in-custody deaths in Santa Barbara County.
While the Grand Jury report did not find specific cases of abuse, an example of the inherent conflict of interest can be demonstrated in this article where deputies with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office shared that they were investigating an in-custody death at the Sheriff’s Office-operated and staffed detention facility that included a coroner’s report and cause of death designation from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Bureau.
The California Department of Justice posts the total number of in-custody deaths statewide online.
AB 1466 – Sustainable Groundwater Management
Existing law created procedures for adjudication of groundwater claims in civil court, but AB 1466 would allow courts to treat claims on an individual basis instead of a comprehensive adjudication of a body of water each time a claim is made.
Each claimant needs to serve all parties involved within six months of an appearance for a comprehensive adjudication with a description of how they intend to use the groundwater they are claiming.
AB 1466 would require courts to presume the accuracy of those descriptions from parties that intend to extract no more than 100 acre-feet of water annually as well as require courts to request technical reports from local groundwater sustainability agencies with sustainability plans during the adjudication process.
Groundwater extraction, among other human actions, has resulted in measurable changes in land elevation in parts of California most dramatically, in the southern portions of the Central Valley according to this article from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
“Not all coastal locations in California are sinking,” noted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in February of this year. “The researchers mapped uplift hot spots of several millimeters per year in the Santa Barbara groundwater basin, which has been steadily replenishing since 2018.”
Image courtesy of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory/the California Institute of Technology.
This Santa Barbara County Grand Jury report from June details just how Santa Barbara County effectively manages local water resources.
AB 632 – Local Housing and Safety Compliance
AB 632 would allow local agencies to file a certified copy of a final administrative order or decision with the clerk of the respective county’s superior court to enter judgement immediately instead of solely through an ordinance regarding housing-specific or fire hazard-focused regulations.
The bill would also allow local agencies to establish, by ordinance, a process to collect those fines or penalties and that those remedies would serve alongside other legal remedies that already exist.
AB 632 “[e]xpands enforcement tools for local governments to uphold state housing laws, fire safety regulations, and restrictions on unlicensed cannabis activities by strengthening penalty collection against serious violators,” explained Assemblymember Hart’s Office.
AB 471 – Equitable Air District Board Compensation
AB 471 would add to the existing Health and Safety Code to allow reimbursement for expenses for county air district board members as well as a per diem of up to $200 per day but not to exceed $7,200 annually for costs to attend meetings or official business.
County air boards can increase the amounts provided during open portions of regular meetings within certain parameters including no more than five percent for each calendar year from the last compensation adjustment and prohibits automatic increases.
Each county air district board would be required to submit a report to the state Legislature within three years of issuing compensation under the new law.
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