Official Summary Text
SB 804, as amended, Archuleta.
Hydrogen
pipeline safety.
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.
Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to adopt hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations that comply with federal law regarding hazardous liquid pipeline safety. Existing law establishes certain recordkeeping and reporting requirements for hazardous liquid pipeline operators.
This bill would require the office to require that dedicated
hydrogen pipelines, as defined, meet specified requirements. The bill would require the office to establish, on or before January 1, 2028, and enforce standards that meet or exceed those requirements, as provided.
The bill would require a dedicated hydrogen pipeline owner to maintain accurate operational records of hydrogen concentration levels within its dedicated hydrogen pipeline and any confirmed instances of leakage of hydrogen and, on or before March 30 of each year, to submit a report to the office detailing compliance with that requirement for the previous calendar year.
The bill would provide
that its provisions do not limit the authority of the Public Utilities Commission to regulate the rates, services, or safety practices of public utilities, and clarify that, if there is a conflict between a provision of the bill and a provision adopted by the commission, the more protective provision applies.