Board of Pilot Commissioners

Division 5, Chapter 2 of the California Harbors and Navigation Code deals with the Board of Pilot Commissioners for Monterey Bay and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. Section 1150 provides that in the California Transportation Agency there is a Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun, consisting of seven members appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Senate.

Those commissioners are specified, including 2 who are licensed pilots, 2 who represent the industry, and 3 public members. The members are appointed with staggered terms. All actions of the board require the vote of four members, a quorum being present. The Secretary of Transportation serves as an ex officio member of the board.

Section 1151 requires each board member to be a citizen of the United States and a resident of California, as well as a resident of one of 15 counties. The term is for four years.

Section 1152 requires the public members of the board to receive compensation, but no more than $600 per month. The appointed members and employees of the board are allowed necessary traveling and other verified expenses incurred by them in the performance of their duties.

Section 1153 requires the board to elect a president and have an office in San Francisco or Alameda County, and meet once a month. Section 1154 vests the board with all functions and duties relating to the administration of this division.

Section 1155 allows the president of the board to administer oaths in regard to any matter properly before it and he or she may issue subpoenas for witnesses in cases.

Section 1156 allows the board to appoint, fix the compensation of, and from time to time adjust the compensation of, an executive director who is exempt from the civil service laws, and other employees as may be necessary. The executive director may perform all duties, including eight that are specified in this section.

The Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing must appoint one assistant director to serve in a career executive assignment at the pleasure of the secretary. The assistant director has the duties as assigned by the executive director. The board may employ personnel necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter. The board may contract and employ commission investigators. The board shall adopt regulations for the minimum standards for a commission investigator.

Section 1156.5 requires the executive director to serve at the pleasure of the board and be under the direct supervision of the board. The term of office to which the executive director is appointed is five years. The Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, or his or her designee, acts as the executive director in specified circumstances.

Section 1156.6 provides that, if suspected safety standard violations concerning pilot hoists, pilot ladders, or the proper rigging of pilot hoists or pilot ladders are reported to the board, the executive director is required to investigate the report. The record of the investigation and the board’s findings and recommendations are a public record maintained by the board.

Section 1156.7 states that, if the executive director of the board alerts the United States Coast Guard to a violation or likely violation of safety standards and has reason to believe that the violation or likely violation will not be corrected prior to the vessel reaching its next port of call, the executive director is required to request the United States Coast Guard to report the suspected safety standard violation to the port state control officer or a pilot organization in an expected future port of call.

Section 1157 requires the board to keep a written record of all the board’s proceedings and acts, as well as a complete record of each pilot appointed and licensed by the board that includes specified information.

Section 1157.1 states that all records of the board relating to the personal information of a pilot, a pilot trainee, or an applicant to the pilot trainee training program are confidential and are not open to public inspection. The term “personal information” is defined.

Section 1157.2 requires the board to establish procedures for access to confidential or restricted information from its records to protect the confidentiality of its employees and licensees.

Section 1157.3 specifies that a member of the board, the executive director, the assistant director, or an employee of the board who willfully discloses confidential information from the board record to a person not authorized to receive it is liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $2,500 per violation.

Section 1157.4 requires, upon request, for the executive director to make available to the requesting agency any information contained in the board’s records.

Section 1157.5 requires annually the board to submit to the Secretary of the Senate, the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, and the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing a report describing the board’s activities for the preceding calendar year. The report has to include specified information.

Section 1157.6 requires the board to convene a committee to review the effectiveness of the revised ratesetting process and to gather stakeholder feedback for the purpose of developing a report for the board’s consideration.

Section 1158 prohibits the public members, the executive director, the assistant director, and employees of the board from engaging in an employment, activity, or enterprise that is clearly inconsistent, incompatible, in conflict with, or inimical to his or her duties as a state officer or employee or make, participate in making, or attempt to use his or her official position to in any way influence a governmental decision in which he or she knows or has reason to know that he or she, or any member of his or her immediate family, has a financial interest.

Section 1158.1 prohibits the executive director, during the term of his or her office, from serving as a member of the board or as a pilot, or otherwise be concurrently employed in the maritime industry.

Section 1159 requires all moneys received by the board pursuant to the provisions of any law to be accounted for at the close of each month to the Controller in the form that the Controller may prescribe and, at the same time on the order of the Controller, all these moneys be paid into the State Treasury to the credit of the Board of Pilot Commissioners’ Special Fund.

Section 1159.1 established the Pilot Boat Surcharge Account in the Board of Pilot Commissioners’ Special Fund. Moneys in the account are continuously appropriated to the board without regard to fiscal years for allocation by the board for two specified purposes.

Section 1159.2 requires a vessel to pay a board operations surcharge, the purpose of which is to fully compensate the board and the Transportation Agency for the official services, staff services, and incidental expenses of the board and agency. The amount of the surcharge is 7.5% of all pilotage fees charged by pilots. The surcharge is billed and collected by the pilots. The board has to conduct a quarterly review its ongoing and anticipated expenses and adjust the surcharge to reflect any changes that have occurred since the last adjustment.