BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, 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)
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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.