Oil spill prevention: administrator for oil spill response: duties: pipeline inspections.

Senator Limón's oil spill prevention legislation establishes new public oversight requirements for California's oil spill contingency planning and mandates enhanced safety protocols for restarting dormant pipelines. Beginning January 2027, the state's oil spill response administrator must conduct periodic public reviews of the standards used to calculate potential spill volumes at oil facilities and the financial responsibility requirements for facility operators.

The legislation requires the Office of Spill Prevention and Response to publicly post certificate of financial responsibility applications from oil facility operators within seven business days, including details about maximum potential spill volumes and demonstrated financial capacity. For oil pipelines six inches or larger that have been inactive for five or more years, operators must complete a spike hydrostatic testing program before resuming operations. These tests must reach at least 139 percent of maximum operating pressure while remaining below 80 percent of the pipeline's minimum yield strength, as determined by the State Fire Marshal.

The new requirements integrate with existing state and federal oil spill prevention frameworks while adding specific timelines and technical parameters for both public review processes and pipeline safety testing. The State Fire Marshal must establish regulations for implementing the hydrostatic testing protocols, including standards for qualified testing companies and procedures for multi-elevation pipeline segments.