BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 606
Page 1
( Without Reference to File )
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 606 (Williams and Gorell)
As Amended September 11, 2013
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(May 30, 2013) |SENATE: |37-0 |(September 12, |
| | | | | |2013) |
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(vote not relevant)
Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY : Appropriates $1 million from the Safe Neighborhood
Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air, and Coastal Protection Bond Fund
(Prop 12) for emergency measures to prevent severe
infrastructure damage to streets and property located along the
Hueneme Beach caused by beach erosion and flooding.
The Senate amendments substantially amend the bill to do the
following:
1)Make the following findings and declarations:
a) Funds are needed immediately for the City of Port
Hueneme to implement emergency measures to prevent
significant damage caused by severe erosion at Hueneme
Beach to public infrastructure, public roads that include a
route identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
as feeding into a tsunami evacuation route, and community
areas;
b) These funds are also needed to prevent down coast
negative impacts to the Ormond Beach Wetlands, a sensitive
and ecologically important public resource, to ensure that
the environmental quality of this unique estuary is
protected; and,
c) Given the sizeable waste that remains at the Halaco
Superfund Site, these funds are also critically needed to
prevent downshore erosion.
2)Appropriate $1 million Prop 12 to the State Coastal
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Conservancy for a grant to the City of Port Hueneme. Require
the funding to be allocated for emergency measures to prevent
severe infrastructure damage to streets and property located
along the Hueneme Beach caused by beach erosion and flooding.
Require the appropriation to only be used for erosion control
projects for which a permit has been approved by the
California Coastal Commission (Commission).
3)Contain an urgency clause and explain that it is necessary for
this measure to take effect immediately to provide the
necessary funding as soon as possible to implement emergency
measures designed to prevent severe infrastructure damage to
public infrastructure, public roads, and community areas
threatened by flooding as a result of severe erosion along
Hueneme Beach in the City of Port Hueneme.
EXISTING LAW : Provides, pursuant to Prop 12 (passed in 2000)
$2.1 billion to protect land around lakes, rivers, and streams
and the coast to improve water quality and ensure clean drinking
water; to protect forests and plant trees to improve air
quality; to preserve open space and farmland threatened by
unplanned development; to protect wildlife habitats; and to
repair and improve the safety of state and neighborhood parks.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, potential increased expenditures of $1 million from
Prop 12 and minor administrative costs to the Coastal
Conservancy, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the
Commission.
COMMENTS :
Background . The City of Port Hueneme (pronounced "Wy-nee'mee")
is located in Ventura County. The port, Port Hueneme, is the
only deep-water harbor between Los Angeles and the San Francisco
Bay Area and is the U.S. Port of Entry for the state's central
coast region. The U.S. Navy and the Oxnard Harbor District
share the port.
Construction of the port in 1939-40 significantly impeded the
down-coast movement of sand, causing erosion to down-coast
beaches including Hueneme Beach. The federal River and Harbor
Act of 1954 authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)
to construct the Channel Islands Harbor with a sand trap. Since
then, the Corps has undertaken biennial dredging of
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approximately one million cubic yards of material from the trap
and placed it along the down-coast shoreline to restore and
maintain it.
In the 2012 cycle, due to federal budget cuts, the Corps moved
only 400,000 cubic yards from the Channel Islands Harbor trap to
Hueneme Beach. According to the city, high winds and storms
following the Corps' December 2012-January 2013 deposit of sand
at Hueneme Beach resulted in the near total loss of all the
newly placed sand within the first few months of the year. In
addition, shoreline erosion reached Surfside Drive, a road
paralleling Hueneme Beach. The next scheduled Corps dredging
cycle is not until November 2014.
On April 24, 2013, the city declared a local state of emergency
and sought assistance at the local, state, and federal levels.
Representative Julia Brownley (D-Oak Park) is working with
multiple federal agencies, the White House, and Congress to
secure funds and authorization for an interim dredge cycle to
restore the sand deficit along Hueneme Beach. In the meantime,
the city obtained emergency permits from the Commission and the
Corps to place rock below the eroded section of Surfside Drive
as a temporary stopgap. The city placed the first section of
boulders in July and plans to extend it further down the beach;
however, additional funding (approximately $2 million) is
needed.
Similar Legislation . AB 141 (Gorell) of the current legislative
session would have appropriated $2 million from the General Fund
to the City of Port Hueneme for the emergency erosion control
measures. This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee this year, presumably because the source of revenue
would have been the General Fund.
Senator Jackson has introduced SB 436, which would appropriate
$1,000,000 from Prop 12 to the City of Port Hueneme for the
emergency measures (with the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving
Fund serving as a backup if there are Prop 12 eligibility
issues). SB 436 is intended to provide the second round of
funding for the emergency erosion control measures.
This bill, AB 606, would provide the first round of funding
needed for the emergency erosion control measures.
SB 436 and AB 606 are double jointed.
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Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN:
0002858