Image source: City of LB

Although others have reported that funding has been "secured," that's not quite accurate. The House Subcommittee listed Earmark must survive a number of additional steps in both the House and the Senate before federally legislated funding is a done-deal.

The item, listed as "Long Beach Breakwater Study, CA" appears on a line on page 86 of the subcommittee's 109 pages of Earmarks (some requested by The President, some requested by House members). The Breakwater item is in the latter category and Congresswoman Richardson is the Requester.

LB city management, per City Council majority voted policy, submitted a request for the item on which Congresswoman Richardson followed-through...which we believe is for the Corps of Engineers to review the study being prepared now by Moffatt and Nichol (under contract with the City of LB). That study is scheduled for presentation in late July.

The House Subcommittee report (with the Breakwater earmark in it) now goes to the full House Appropriations Committee. If the full House Appropriations Committee approves the Subcommittee report with the breakwater funding Earmark, that version of the bill will advance to the House floor.

[clarified text June 27] A separate version of the bill goes through the Senate, usually separately "marked-up" (items added/deleted in Committees) with the Senate bill usually a few weeks behind the House. That means the bill may or may not differ considerably in the Senate (funding levels may be different; it may or may not include some House requested funding items). [end update]

The Senate-enacted and House-enacted versions of the bills are eventually sent to a House-Senate conference committee, which resolves differences in the two versions...a very important place in the process at which Cong. Richardson and funding supporters will almost certainly press to ensure that the breakwater funding is included in the final version of the bill that comes out of the House-Senate conference committee.

The conference-committee agreed final version of the bill is sent to the full House and full Senate for final passage...and then to President Obama, who will presumably sign the Dem-majority passed bill.

And then it's a legislatively done deal.

In a release, Congresswoman Richardson indicated that after requesting funding last year, she conducted "several meetings with the Army Corps and intense negotiations with Appropriations Committee leadership." She said in the release:

"This $100,000 allocation for the Army Corps’s reconnaissance report is one of the most vital allocations this region will receive and it is particularly vital in these economic times to ensure an objective evaluation is made so that all resident, business and government issues and concerns are considered."

As the current version of the bill -- with the $100k LB breakwater study Earmark now included -- moves through the legislative process, LBReport.com will report exactly what's happening every step of the way. Stay with LBReport.com for the full story.