Basofin later said that he hadn’t read the legislation.
“I was actually just there to say we oppose the bill,” Basofin said. “We only have seven people for the whole state, we can’t keep up on everything.”
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With a long legislative climb still ahead, the embattled bill passed out of committee with a 4-2 vote despite opposition from Basofin, Brune and an array of state and national environmental groups.
“Frankly I think there should have been 200 people here,” said Half Moon Bay resident Judy Taylor, who spoke in favor of the bill. “This is probably the single biggest issue the city has faced in the last 20 years, or will face for the next 40 years.”
Taylor was one of about a dozen local citizens who carpooled to the state capital to voice their support for the embattled legislation at a Local Government Committee hearing, joining the jumble of lobbyists, lawyers, activists and politicians converging in a small fourth-floor Assembly room as part of the latest make-or-break chapter of the long-standing Beachwood saga.
For Coastsiders who made the 100-mile journey inland, the committee hearing was an opportunity to give their two cents, even though they were barely given the opportunity to speak more than two words. Time constraints led the committee to limit public speakers to saying little more than whether they supported or opposed the bill.
For Freda Jeffs, making a show of hometown opinion, albeit brief, still had an effect on the committee members.
“I think they understand now that what they do will affect the people who live in Half Moon Bay,” Jeffs said. “This is a huge problem, and I’m willing to do whatever I can to help us put this matter behind us.”
Most supporters of the bill were encouraged to travel to the committee meeting through e-mails sent out by city council members and local organizations including the San Mateo County Association of Realtors, Coastside Community First and Put Community First, the political action committee that Jeffs serves as president. Jeffs also served as campaign manager for Mayor Bonnie McClung during her 2005 race for the council.
Fewer local residents made the trip to demonstrate opposition to the bill. That task fell to a confederation of state and national environmental groups that marched in lockstep to a common drumbeat: If this bill had a remote chance of setting a precedent to skirt environmental law, then it had to be nipped in the bud.
“We’re not indifferent to the situation Half Moon Bay is in ... But you cannot create legislation that will not serve as precedent,” said Pete Price, a lobbyist with the League of Conservation Voters. Price indicated that bills like AB 1991 that are created for a specific, isolated situation can still be used to influence courts or future legislative sessions.
Even though the bill passed its first committee test — it now heads to the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee — comments from committee members Thursday made it clear an uphill battle waits in the Assembly.
“I support it here in the committee as a way to move it forward but I don’t know if I can support it on the floor,” said committee Chairwoman Anna Caballero, D-Salinas. She urged bill sponsor Gene Mullin, a Democrat from South San Francisco, to seek some compromise between the city and environmental leaders who oppose a bill they say runs roughshod over state protections.
Committee member and former Dublin Mayor Guy Houston, who also voted for the measure, was somewhat more supportive. The Republican didn’t buy the argument, presented to the committee by former Half Moon Bay City Councilman Mike Ferreira, that the city could recoup much of the $18 million it would pay if the bill doesn’t pass by developing some parts of the Beachwood tract.
“If the city tried to develop the land I don’t think they would make any money,” he said.
Sitting in his office after the committee meeting, Mullin had the look of a tired man with little hope for sleep in the near future.
On the assemblyman’s desk lay three baskets for filing, labeled from the bottom up, “G-,” “R-,” and “X-rated” — Mullin’s own system for separating the good, the bad, and the downright ugly paperwork during the busiest legislative season.
The assemblyman said he was very happy that the bill passed through the first legislative hurdle, although he confided he wasn’t too surprised. He had met earlier with all of the committee members, and already had a solid estimate of the vote.
“You usually have a general idea of how people are going to vote,” Mullin said. “But I’ve had bills before that I thought would pass, and I didn’t get the votes.”
By Mullin’s count, the bill still must pass a total of six Legislature votes — two in the Assembly and three in the Senate — before going to the governor’s desk.
The Appropriations Committee, the next step for the bill, will vote on it sometime before the committee’s May 23 deadline. Before that comes, Mullin says he hopes to meet with all the committee members and work to make the bill more palatable for the opposition.
“It will be difficult to craft language that will remove the potential for some other community at some other time to say, ‘Hey, you did it for Half Moon Bay; why not us?’ “ Mullin said. “But that will be our next goal.”
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