California bill seeks to create ?ocean rangers? on cruise ships

California bill seeks to create ôocean rangersö on cruise ships Sacramento legislators have advanced a bill that would establish an armed peace officer force to travel on cruise ships sailing from California ports.
   Despite opposition from the cruise industry, the state legislature's Senate Public Safety Committee approved SB 1582 by a 5-0 vote Tuesday, in a first step toward becoming the most stringent cruise ship regulation in the nation. The bill now moves to the Senate environmental quality committee where it will be taken up on Monday.
   The bill seeks to impose a $1-per-passenger fee to establish what bill sponsor state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, calls 'ocean rangers.' The rangers, which would be state Department of Justice agents, would monitor public safety aboard cruise ships while at seas and guarantee that the vessels comply with environmental laws that prohibit waste dumping within three miles of the state's coastline.
   Proponents of the plan say that despite nearly all cruise ships having private security forces aboard the vessels, public safety is lax and many crimes committed while at sea go either unreported and/or uninvestigated.
   Critics of the bill, mainly the $35-billion-a-year cruise industry, maintain that crime rates on vessels have been exaggerated. The industry said it favors federal legislation expanding the reporting requirements of crimes occurring aboard vessels to federal authorities.