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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has met with legislators this week to highlight legislative and administrative solutions aimed at streamlining oil spill prevention and response in the state of California.

Schwarzenegger said in a statement that his plan provides "the tools we need to prevent another devastating oil spill of the magnitude we saw last fall."

Following the Cosco Busan oil spill of 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay last November, the Governor's Administration has announced a number of steps to improve oil spill response times and the protection of the environment.

The Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) is aiming to speed up the response times at California's major ports. Oil spill recovery firms will now have to comply with regulatory changes to speed up the reponse times to oil spills in Los Angeles, Long Beach and in the San Francisco Bay area. These changes are expected to be in place within the next six months.

The Governor is also supporting three pieces of legislation: Assemblymember Nava's AB 1960, Assemblymember Wolk's AB 2911 and Senator Simitian's SB 1739.

Schwarzenegger aims to amend Assemblymember Nava's AB 1960 to enact a comprehensive Inland Oil Spill Prevention Program which will require effective maintenance standards and the oversight of inland oil-producing facilities. The Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources would oversee the inspection, testing, maintenance and operations of oil production facilities and the Administration would have the power to shut down high frequency oil spillers.

Assemblymember Wolk's AB 2911 would be amended to carrry out a comprehensive Inland Oil Spill Response and Clean-up program and strengthen penalties for marine and inland oil spills. The bill would also enable California to increase its efforts to carry out the search, rescue and treatment of oiled wildlife following an oil spill.

Senator Simitian's SB 1739 bill will make it mandatory for oil response companies to demonstrate through inspections that they are able to deploy their resources effectively when an oil spill takes place.

Governor Schwarzenegger's oil spill prevention plan has been criticized by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, who has called the governor's plan "window dressing," saying it had serious shortcomings in addressing the state's oil spill prevention and response efforts.

Hancock's Assembly Bill 2032 would increase the maximum Oil Spill Prevention and Administration Fund fee from 5 cents to 8 cents on imported petroleum products to support and improve the state's oil spill prevention and response programme. The bill narrowly passed the state Assembly in May and has now moved to the state Senate.

Whilst Governor Schwarzenegger's bill would require little funding, Republican lawmakers have argued that if Hancock's bill was approved at the Seanate, car users would end up paying more at the pump. Supporters of the bill have said the price rise would be too small to be felt by consumers.