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.