BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Kevin de León, Chair AB 141 (Gorell) - Port Hueneme: appropriation for shoreline protection. Amended: August 12, 2013 Policy Vote: T&H 10-0 Urgency: Yes Mandate: No Hearing Date: August 26, 2013 Consultant: Mark McKenzie This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: AB 141, an urgency measure, would appropriate $2 million from the General Fund to the City of Port Hueneme for emergency measures to prevent erosion and flood damage to roads and properties along Hueneme Beach. Fiscal Impact: General Fund appropriation of $2 million in 2013-14. Background: Port Hueneme, located in Ventura County, was constructed in 1939. The port, which is shared by the Oxnard Harbor District and the US Navy, is the only deep-water harbor between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area and is the US Port of Entry for the state's central coast region. Construction of the port significantly impeded the natural down-coast movement of sand, causing erosion to beaches south of the port, including Hueneme Beach. The federal River and Harbor Act of 1954 authorized the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to construct the Channel Islands Harbor with a sand trap. Approximately 1 to 2 million cubic yards of sand is removed by the Corps every two years and placed on beaches to the south of the jetties at the entrance to the port. In the 2012 cycle, due to federal budget cuts, the Corps moved only 600,000 cubic yards from the Channel Islands Harbor trap to Hueneme Beach, and much of the deposited sand was lost as a result of severe storms. The next dredging cycle is not scheduled to occur until November of 2014. In April of this year, the City of Port Hueneme declared a local state of emergency due to severe shoreline erosion that endangers Surfside Drive, a road that parallels the beach, as well as homes, wetlands, and the port's commercial infrastructure. The AB 141 (Gorell) Page 1 City has spent $1.3 million to build a temporary blockade of boulders along 500 feet of beach below the eroded sections of Surfside Drive, but estimates that an additional $2 million is needed to erect a blockade along the remaining 900 feet of the beach. The City is currently seeking assistance on the local, state, and federal levels. Representative Julia Brownley (D-Oak Park) has co-sponsored legislation in Congress to allow a portion of the balance of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, which has a balance of over $8 billion, to be used for interim dredging. Proposed Law: AB 141 would appropriate $2 million from the General Fund to the City of Port Hueneme to implement emergency measures to prevent damage to streets and property along Hueneme Beach from beach erosion and flooding. Staff Comments: This bill provides a state-funded solution to a local problem created by a lack of federal action and funding. Regardless of the merits of the project, the Committee may wish to consider whether the state General Fund is an appropriate solution to a problem caused by federal inaction and sequestration. Unfortunately, it appears unlikely that federal legislation would be approved by Congress and signed by the President in time to address the City's problem. It is unclear whether any federal emergency funding could be made available at this time. This bill originally pertained to write-in candidates on general election ballots, but was amended on August 12, 2013, to delete those provisions and instead appropriate $2 million to the City of Port Hueneme.