(July 10, 2015, updated 10:15 a.m.) -- CA Coastal Commissioner (and 7th dist. Long Beach Councilman) Roberto Uranga candidly acknowledged at the July 8, 2015 Coastal Commission meeting that he tried to appoint Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia as his voting Coastal Commission alternate -- after Garcia was required to step down from the Coastal Commission under operation of state law after he was elected LB's non-voting Mayor -- but Commissioner Uranga's attempt to do so is in a "holding pattern" pending enactment of a change to state law.

LBREPORT.com has learned that for a second time (after a failed attempt last year), some Sac'to lawmaker(s) [we're in the process of confirming exactly who] quietly moved just days ago to try to change the current state law that keeps Garcia off the Commission as a voting alternate.

"As a consequence of my being here [resulting from Mayor Garcia having to step down], I did nominate the Mayor to be my alternate, and there is a holding pattern on that until we see what results from [SB 798]," Commissioner Uranga revealed during publicly agendized Coastal Commission discussion of pending legislative matters at the Commission's July 8 meeting. Commissioner Uranga asked his fellow Commissioners to support the bill (SB 798) and other Commissioners had already separately voiced support for the underlying bill.

SB 798's full text, including its recent amendment re alternate Coastal Comm'n members is at this link) The bill is currently awaiting action in the Assembly Appropriations Committee [a non-policy committee]; it cleared the state Senate earlier this year.

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The Coastal Commission is a powerful statewide regulatory body that controls coastal development statewide, meaning its decisions can impact coastal area developers, property owners and business interests. As LBREPORT.com was first (again) to report in October 2013, the Garcia 2014 Mayoral campaign sought sums at a San Fernando Valley fundraiser at the home of a CA Coastal Commission member. The political event invitation, obtained by LBREPORT.com, told recipients that Garcia is "the pro-business candidate, and wants Long Beach to strengthen it's [sic] name, 'The International City,' by making it an economically booming, world-class city that businesses want to be a part of." [The fundraiser was privately organized and lawful, to our knowledge not using any state or public resources.]

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Garcia's entry onto the powerful state body was controversial:

• (1) While a voting member of the LB City Council, Garcia was in the minority in voting to approve a proposed development at 2nd/PCH [Seaport Marina hotel site] that the Coastal Commission's LB office staff had urged City Hall in writing not to pursue as it considered the action procedurally defective under the Coastal Act. The development was separately opposed on its merits by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust.

• (2) During a quasi-judicial City Council hearing (Nov. 2010) on a resident's appeal under the CA Environmental Quality Act, Garcia was captured on video typing or texting on his computer during sworn hearing testimony. Garcia then went on to second a motion to overrule the resident's appeal. [Garcia's emailed response to LBREPORT.com at the time: "I may have sent a couple texts for probably no longer than 1 or two minutes total. It is common for me to send messages to my staff, or respond to them during a council meeting. They provide us with information and vice versa."]

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Garcia was appointed as an interim member of the Coastal Commission in Jan. 2013 after a Nov. 2012 election-related vacancy arose. The appointment by the state Senate Rules Committee, on which Garcia ally state Senator Ricardo Lara (D, LB-Huntington Park) is a member, was conducted in a closed-door Committee proceeding from which the public and press were required to leave the Committee hearing room. Committee staff says no audio or video record was made of what took place; there's no public evidence of what matters Committee members considered or what they said; no outside witnesses were allowed to testify, pro or con.

The non-transparent procedure has been followed by the state Senate Rules Committee under Dem majority leadership for years, although it isn't explicitly required under state law. A request by LBREPORT.com to see document(s) considered by the Committee (including any submitted by Garcia) under the CA Legislative Open Records Act was denied by Committee staff. The Committee was (under Garcia's initial appointment) was chaired by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg (D, Sacramento); it's now chaired by his successor, state Senate President Pro Tem Senator Kevin de Leon (D., Los Angeles.)

Garcia was subsequently named to a full Coastal Commission term, but after his June 2014 electon as Mayor (a non-voting position) learned [apparently to his surprise] that he would be forced to exit the Coastal Commission.

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As LBREPORT.com previously reported, Senator Lara hurriedly used Sacramento's much criticized "gut and amend" procedure [erasing the text from one bill and adding unrelated new language that bypasses regular committee hearings] to try and change state law in a way that would have let Garcia remain on the Commission, but it sparked controversy and failed amid negative press coverage.

Just days ago [on or about July 6 or 8, 2015), verbiage was suddenly inserted in SB 798 -- an bill dealing mainly with Fish and Wildlife licenses and approvals with a section on Coastal Commission appointments -- that would change state law in a way that wouldn't prevent non-government officials to serve as Coastal Commission voting alternates.

Councilman/Coastal Commissioner Uranga has told LBREPORT.com [we asked in response to some local speculation] that if SB 798 passes in its now-amended form and he is allowed to name Garcia as his alternate, he (Uranga) will remain on the Coastal Commission and has no intention of exiting to create a vacancy that could be sought by Garcia. "I am the Coastal Commissioner and Mayor Garcia would be my alternate," Commissioner Uranga said [quite firmly.]

Developing...with further to follow on LBREPORT.com.