Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell (D., LB) was a named co-author on both measures and handled Assembly floor action on one of them.

[Scroll down for further.]

• SB 1190 would have prohibited a commission member and an interested person from conducting an ex parte communication unless the member fully discloses and makes public the ex parte communication, as specified, and prohibits a commission member or alternate from making, participating in making, or in any other way attempting to use his or her official position to influence a commission decision about which the member or alternate has knowingly had an ex parte communication that has not been reported. In early August, the bill was amended (some would say gutted) in the Assembly Appropriations Committee which added amendments would effectively allow ex parte communications between developers and coastal commissioners in visits to project sites, and would let commissioners continue having ex parte contacts with elected officials acting in their official capacity...but would apply the ban to environmental groups, non-elected government officials who are not elected, lobbyists and other members of the public interested in a pending Coastal Commission matter.

  Assemblyman O'Donnell presented the measure on the Assembly floor...where it went down to what media reports said was a 12-45 defeat although the Assembly Clerk's final tally [which can reflect members adding/changing their votes before end of the day's session] was 15-48. Multiple Dems joined Repubs to kill the bill. SacBee.com reports that on defeat of SB 1190, "Laughter and an audible 'woo!' echoed through the chamber." For SacBee.com coverage, click here.

• AB 2002 (on which Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D, Lakewood) was a co-author along with O'Donnell) would have required Coastal Commission members to disclose in writing 24 hours before a commission hearing any ex parte communication -- a communication outside a public proceeding on one-side of a matter coming to the Commission -- conducted within 7 days of the commission hearing relating to a matter that will be discussed at the hearing, and would prohibit a commission member or an interested person from conducting such an ex parte communication within 24 hours before the commission hearing.

  The measure failed in the state Senate 22-13...with 27 votes needed for passage (2/3 approval needed on this measure.) Dems hold 26 Senate seats. Four Dems are recorded as "no votes recorded" on the Aug. 31 vote on AB 2002: Galgiani, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Roth. One Repub was needed for 2/3 approval...and SE LB-area state Senator Janet Nguyen (R, SE LB-west OC) wasn't it. Vote tally, click here.

Senator Nguyen voted against AB 2002 on Aug. 31 and was recorded as "no vote recorded" on SB 1190 when it passed the state Senate in May.

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The Coastal Commission, created by initiative petition and a vote of the people statewide in the 1970s, permits or forbids development and is supposed to ensure public access and public use along hundreds of miles of CA's coastline. The Commission's members are variously appointed by the Governor (currently Jerry Brown, a Dem) and the Assembly and state Senate leadership (both currently Dem.) In recent years, environmentalists and coastal protection advocates have charged that the Commission's decisions have increasingly tilted in favor of development interests despite recommendations from Coastal Commission staff.

A tipping point came in February 2016 when, by a one vote margin, a Coastal Commission majority fired the agency's Exec. Dir., Charles Lester over the objections of enviros and coastal protection advocates. Coastal Commissioner/LB Councilmember Roberto Uranga, who joined in the Commission majority's action, has adamantly denied to LBREPORT.com that his vote reflected a pro-developer tilt but said it stemmed from, among other things, poor communication with Commission members by the Exec. Director.

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The Coastal Commission will play a decisionmaking role in whether or not to approve proposed changes to SE LB zoning -- the now-advancing SEASP rezoning (LBREPORT.com coverage here which as now proposed by city staff would allow increased commercial building heights along parts of PCH (north and south of 2nd St.) and increased residential densities in nearby areas. The measure recently drew energetic opposition at a Planning Commission study session (LBREPORT.com coverage here. The LB City Council will eventually vote on proposed SEASP zoning changes, then send them to the Coastal Commission for approval or rejection.

LB Councilman/Commissioner Uranga was appointed to the Coastal Commission in a March 2015 closed-door proceeding (non-agendized, public and press excluded, no public hearing with witnesses pro/con) by the state Senate Rules Committee (chair, Sen. Kevin DeLeon; members include Sen. Ricardo Lara). Uranga was appointed after LB Mayor Robert Garcia (appointed to the Coastal Commission in Jan. 2013 in the same secretive process by the Committee's previous leadership) was forced to exit the Commission in the latter half of 2014 because he no longer qualified for Coastal Commission membership under then-current law since he was no longer a voting LB Councilmember (Vice Mayor) when he became LB's non-voting Mayor (mid-July 2014.)

Garcia's Sac'to allies made at least two attempts to change state law to keep Garcia on the Commission [a de facto gateway to statewide campaign contributions from those interested in coastal development.] Their first attempt failed, but their second attempt resulted in passing legislation that now lets CA non-voting Mayors (including Garcia) serve as a full Commission member or a Commissioner's alternate. Commissioner Uranga hasn't named Garcia (or anyone else) as his Commission alternate and Uranga's Coastal Commission term expires in May, 2017.

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