AB 552

This bill establishes the emergency preparedness required of railroad

corporations transporting hazardous materials in the state and the response

required by railroad corporations if a discharge of hazardous materials occurs.

This bill requires each railroad corporation operating in the state to submit to

the Department of Natural Resources a plan detailing the measures the corporation

will take to prevent the discharge of hazardous materials and to respond to

discharges that may occur. Each railroad corporation is required to provide training

to each fire department along the route upon which the corporation's trains operate.

The training must include response preparedness relating to discharge and

derailments and techniques to assess hazards to the environment. Each railroad

corporation must complete these requirements once every three years.

This bill requires a railroad corporation operating a train that discharges

material to provide an employee to advise the local incident commander within one

hour. Within three hours, the corporation must deliver monitoring equipment and

qualified personnel to assess the discharge. Within eight hours, the corporation

must deliver equipment capable of containing 10 percent of the discharge. Within

60 hours, the corporation must deliver equipment capable of containing 100 percent

of the discharge.

This bill requires the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads (OCR) to employ

rail safety inspectors who will inspect railroad tracks, rights-of-way, yards, and

physical plants and review railroad safety requirements, security measures, and

maintenance and repair records. This bill increases OCR's rail safety inspector

positions by four positions. This bill also requires OCR to reimburse fire

departments for certain expenses associated with the training required by this bill.

This bill requires OCR to assess each railroad corporation a proportionate share,

based on route miles operated in this state, of OCR's expenses related to the rail

inspection and training required by this bill.

This bill requires OCR to submit to the legislature no later than January 15,

2017, a report on the emergency preparedness response framework within the state

relating to incidents involving hazardous materials transported by rail. This report

must include an assessment of training needs and must establish benchmarks for

assessing training needs in the future. This bill also requires OCR to submit to the

legislature no later than November 1, 2017, an update to the initial report that

evaluates the effectiveness of training conducted and identifies funding sources and

future funding needs.

This bill requires the Department of Transportation to submit to the legislature

no later than November 1, 2017, a report that includes information to assist in risk

management associated with rail transportation of hazardous materials, criteria for

prioritizing at-grade crossing improvements, recommendations for safety

improvements, and an analysis of rail inspection activities.