Assembly BillIntroducedGovernment
AB 1536: Offshore oil: pipeline safety.
What AB 1536 does, verified April 24, 2026
<p>The proposed bill amends existing pipeline safety regulations, requiring new or replacement pipelines near sensitive coastal areas to use best available technology based on an independent expert's risk analysis. It mandates public comment periods and hearings for exemption applications and subjects exempted projects to the California Environmental Quality Act.</p> <p>Additionally, it prohibits reactivation of idled hazardous liquid pipelines that have experienced a spill without meeting specified conditions. Pipelines with spills over 10,000 gallons must be permanently abandoned by July 2027 and restored to natural condition within one year.</p> <p>The bill also requires operators seeking approval for new wells or facilities in the coastal zone to submit oil leak detection plans and obtain division approval before proceeding. It prohibits pipelines with cumulative spills over 10,000…
Bill journey
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2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: Re-referred to Com. on E.M. (2026-04-16)Alert me
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| Apr. 16, 2026 | Re-referred to Com. on E.M. |
| Apr. 15, 2026 | Read second time and amended. |
| Apr. 14, 2026 | From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on E.M. (Ayes 10. Noes 4.) (April 13). |
| Apr. 07, 2026 | Re-referred to Com. on NAT. RES. |
| Apr. 06, 2026 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on NAT. RES. Read second time and amended. |
Latest bill textAmended version, April 15, 2026 · 2,754 words
| Amended IN Assembly April 15, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly April 06, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly March 19, 2026 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1536
| Introduced by Assembly Member Addis (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bryan, Hart, Pellerin, and Schultz) |
January 05, 2026 |
An act to amend Sections 51011 and 51013.1 of, and to add Section 51013.2 to, the Government Code, and to add Sections 3239 and 5012.3 to the Public Resources Code, relating to offshore oil.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1536, as amended, Addis. Offshore oil: pipeline safety.
The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981 requires the State Fire Marshal to administer provisions regulating the inspection of intrastate pipelines that transport hazardous liquids. The act requires the State Fire Marshal to adopt hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations in compliance with the federal law relating to hazardous liquid pipeline safety, as provided. The act authorizes the State Fire Marshal to exempt the application of those regulations to any pipeline, or portion thereof, when it is determined that the risk to public safety is slight and the probability of injury or damage remote. The act requires any new or replacement pipeline near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone to use best available technology based on a risk analysis conducted by the operator to reduce the amount of oil released in an oil spill to protect state waters and wildlife. A person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act is, upon conviction, subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both a fine and imprisonment, as provided.
This bill would make an application for a specified exemption pursuant to these provisions subject to a 60-day public comment period and, upon request of any interested person, require it to be considered at a public hearing. The bill would make a project that has received an exemption pursuant to these provisions from the State Fire Marshal, as described above, subject to the California Environmental Quality Act. The bill would make any repaired pipeline near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone subject to the requirement to use best available technology based on a risk analysis conducted by an independent expert, rather than the operator, and require that analysis to address prevention, as well as reduction, of the amount of oil released in an oil spill, as described above, and make related changes. The bill would prohibit idled, inactive, or out-of-service hazardous liquid pipelines under the jurisdiction of the State Fire Marshal that have experienced a reportable incident, such as a hazardous liquid spill, from being reactivated or operated, unless specified conditions are met. The bill would require, for any idled, inactive, or out-of-service pipeline that has spilled 10,000 gallons or more of hazardous liquid, the operator to permanently abandon the pipeline by July 1, 2027, or within 6 months of the pipeline’s most recent incident, and require the operator to restore the site to its natural condition no later than one year following permanent abandonment. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would require the State Fire Marshal to require permanent abandonment of a pipeline if the best available technology is not achievable for a pipeline because of operational aspects, pipeline or regional conditions, or other factors. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to suspend the operations of any pipeline that is not in compliance with the requirements to use best available technology no later than January 1, 2027.
Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells, as provided. A person who violates, fails, neglects, or refuses to comply with the oil and gas laws, or who fails, neglects, or refuses to furnish any report or record required pursuant to those laws, is guilty of a crime.
The California Coastal Act of 1976 establishes the California Coastal Commission, and prescribes procedures for the preparation, approval, and certification of local coastal programs that regulate development in the coastal zone, as defined, in jurisdictions that have a certified local coastal program.
This bill would require an operator seeking approval for a new well, production facility, or specified pipelines in the coastal zone to submit an oil leak detection and response plan, as specified, and obtain approval from the division before obtaining approval for the new well, production facility, or specified pipeline. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would authorize the commission to adopt regulatory standards for leak detection and repair for pipelines provided those standards are more protective than the standards promulgated by federal regulation, as provided.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation to grant permits and easements to an oil and gas lessee of the state for pipeline right-of-way purposes.
This bill would prohibit any intrastate oil pipeline that has spilled 10,000 gallons or more of oil cumulatively since its construction from operating within 0.5 miles of a state park, a designated ecological reserve, as defined, or a wildlife area of California. area, as determined by the Fish and Game Commission.
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.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 51011 of the Government Code is amended to read:51011.
(a) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations in compliance with the federal law relating to hazardous liquid pipeline safety, including, but not limited to, compliance orders, penalties, and inspection and maintenance provisions, and including amendments to those laws and regulations that may be hereafter enacted and adopted. Regulations adopting the minimum standards for hazardous liquid pipelines contained in the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 (49 U.S.C. Sec. 60101 et seq.), and Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, by the State Fire Marshal are exempt from the procedures specified in Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2, except that those regulations shall be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law for filing with the Secretary of State and publication in the California Code of Regulations.(b) The State Fire Marshal may exempt the application of regulations adopted pursuant to this section to any pipeline, or portion thereof, when it is determined that the risk to public safety is slight and the probability of injury or damage remote.
(c) An application for an exemption pursuant to this section, including an application for an exemption pursuant to Section 2000 of Chapter 14 of Division 1 of Title 19 of the California Code of Regulations, shall be subject to a 60-day public comment period and, upon request of any interested person, considered at a public hearing. The State Fire Marshal shall provide public notice of the application that specifies the period during which comments will be received and the date, time, and place of any public hearing on the application.
(d) Notification of exemptions shall be written, publicly available, and shall include a discussion of those factors that the State Fire Marshal considers significant to the granting of the exemption.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a project that has received an exemption pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c) is subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).
SEC. 2.
Section 51013.1 of the Government Code is amended to read:51013.1.
(a) Any new, repaired, or replacement pipeline near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone shall use best available technology, including, but not limited to, the installation of leak detection technology, automatic shutoff systems, or remote controlled sectionalized block valves, or any combination of these technologies, based on a risk analysis conducted by an independent expert to prevent and reduce the amount of oil released in an oil spill to protect state waters and wildlife.(b) The State Fire Marshal shall require permanent abandonment of a pipeline if the best available technology is not achievable for a pipeline because of operational aspects, pipeline or regional conditions, or other factors.
(c) (1) By July 1, 2018, an operator of an existing pipeline near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone shall submit a plan to retrofit, by January 1, 2020, existing pipelines near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone with the best available technology, including, but not limited to, installation of leak detection technologies, automatic shutoff systems, or remote controlled sectionalized block valves, or any combination of these technologies, based on a risk analysis conducted by the operator to reduce the amount of oil released in an oil spill to protect state waters and wildlife.
(2) An operator may request confidential treatment of information submitted in the plan required by paragraph (1) or contained in any documents associated with the risk analysis described in this section, including, but not limited to, information regarding the proposed location of automatic shutoff valves or remote controlled sectionalized block valves.
(3) The State Fire Marshal shall suspend the operations of any pipeline that is not in compliance with the requirements of this subdivision by January 1, 2027.
(d) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt regulations pursuant to this section by July 1, 2027. The regulations shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) A definition of automatic shutoff systems.
(2) A process to assess the adequacy of the independent expert’s risk analysis.
(3) A process by which an operator may request confidential treatment of information submitted in the plan required by paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) or contained in any documents associated with the risk analysis described in this section.
(4) A determination of how near to an environmentally and ecologically sensitive area a pipeline must be to be subject to the requirements of this section based on the likelihood of the pipeline impacting those areas.
(e) An operator of a pipeline near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone shall notify the Office of the State Fire Marshal of any new construction or retrofit of pipeline in these waters.
(f) For purposes of implementing this section, the State Fire Marshal shall consult with the Office of Spill Prevention and Response about the potential impacts to state water and wildlife.
(g) For purposes of this section, “environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas” is the same term as described in subdivision (d) of Section 8574.7.
(h) (1) For purposes of this section, “best available technology” means technology that provides the greatest degree of protection by preventing and limiting the quantity of release in the event of a spill, taking into consideration whether the processes are currently in use and could be purchased anywhere in the world.
(2) The State Fire Marshal shall determine what is the best available technology and shall consider the effectiveness and engineering feasibility of the technology when making this determination.
(i) For the purposes of this section, “oil” means hazardous liquid as defined in Section 195.2 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
SEC. 3.
Section 51013.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:51013.2.
(a) Idled, inactive, or out-of-service hazardous liquid pipelines under the jurisdiction of the State Fire Marshal that have experienced a reportable incident, such as a hazardous liquid spill, shall not be reactivated or operated unless all of the following conditions are met:(1) The incident spill volume was less than 10,000 gallons.
(2) All repairs to the pipeline have been completed.
(3) The pipeline has been retrofitted with the best available technology to prevent future spills from occurring and reduce the amount of hazardous liquid released.
(4) The State Fire Marshal has certified that all of the following apply to the pipeline:
(A) It underwent all required integrity assessments and testing.
(B) It is in compliance with all applicable pipeline integrity standards and reporting requirements.
(5) The State Fire Marshal Marshal, in coordination with the administrator for oil spill response in the Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response, to the extent coordination is appropriate, shall hold at least one public hearing in the affected county or counties on any proposed postspill pipeline operation or reactivation.
(6) The operator has complied with any other conditions the State Fire Marshal has determined will ensure public safety and environmental protection.
(b) (1) For any idled, inactive, or out-of-service pipeline that has spilled 10,000 gallons or more of hazardous liquid, the operator shall permanently abandon the pipeline in accordance with the State Fire Marshal’s regulations adopted pursuant to Section 51011, as well as all applicable federal regulations that are incorporated by reference in Section 2000 of Title 19 of the California Code of Regulations, including, but not limited to, Section 195.402(c)(10) of Subpart F of Part 195 of Subchapter D of Chapter I of Subtitle B of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations by July 1, 2027, or within six months of the pipeline’s most recent incident, and the operator shall restore the site to its natural condition no later than one year following permanent abandonment.
(2) The State Fire Marshal may extend the deadline for permanent abandonment and the deadline for restoration for no more than one additional year, and may make exemptions as necessary to comply with a court order.
SEC. 4.
Section 3239 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:3239.
(a) An operator seeking approval for any of the following in the coastal zone shall submit an oil leak detection and response plan and obtain approval from the division before obtaining approval for the new well, production facility, or pipeline:(1) A new well.
(2) A production facility.
(3) A pipeline under the jurisdiction of the State Fire Marshal.
(b) (1) The oil leak detection and response plan for a new well or production facility submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall meet or exceed the requirements of Section 3283 51013.1 of the Government Code and its implementing regulations, except that the oil leak detection and response plan shall be submitted and approved prior to obtaining approval for the new well or production facility, and the operator shall implement the approved oil leak detection and response plan, with best available technology, when the new well or production facility commences operation.
(2) The oil leak detection and response plan submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) for a pipeline under the jurisdiction of the State Fire Marshal shall meet or exceed the requirements of Section 195.452 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, to the extent not in conflict with federal law. The oil leak detection and response plan must include both an internal computational method for oil leak detection and an external or sensory method for oil leak detection.
(c) An operator that is subject to subdivision (a) shall comply with the requirements of subdivisions (a) and (b) no later than July 1, 2027.
(d)The California Coastal Commission may adopt regulatory standards for leak detection and repair for pipelines provided those standards are more protective than the standards promulgated by federal regulation, to the extent not in conflict with federal law.
SEC. 5.
Section 5012.3 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:5012.3.
Any intrastate oil pipeline that has spilled 10,000 gallons or more of oil cumulatively since its construction shall not operate within 0.5 miles of a state park, a designated ecological reserve, as defined in Section 1584 of the Fish and Game Code, or a wildlifeSEC. 6.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.Text of AB 1536 as amended, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions