Senate Approves Coastal Panel Bill

A bill sought by Gov. Gray Davis to restore the Coastal Commission as a constitutional protector of California’s shoreline passed the Senate on Tuesday despite Republican opposition.

The bill aims to overcome an adverse court ruling by imposing fixed four-year terms on the Legislature’s eight appointees to the 12-member panel and removing the lawmakers’ power to fire them at any time.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled in December that the ability to dismiss its appointees at will enabled the Legislature to unconstitutionally influence the outcome of commission actions by replacing anyone who did not vote as lawmakers wished.

In effect, the court said, such authority allowed the Legislature to create a law without passing a bill and violated the separation of powers requirement of the state Constitution. During the commission’s 30-year history, legislative leaders have occasionally made last-minute switches as the commission was about to act on a controversial issue.

In a clarification of its ruling, the court later suggested that establishing fixed terms for legislative appointees would remedy the defect. The court did not order a change for the four appointees of the governor, who serve two-year terms.

Davis and Democrats insist that the commission is necessary to protect the state’s scenic 1,100-mile shoreline from exploitation by developers. But Republicans argue that the commission has run roughshod over the rights of property owners.

On a virtually party-line vote of 25-14 Tuesday, the bill (AB1x) by Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) was returned to the Assembly, where a final vote is expected Thursday. If approved, the bill will then go to Davis for his signature.

Sen. Bruce McPherson of Santa Cruz, an environmentalist whose district includes some of the coast’s most spectacular scenery, was the only Republican to vote with Democrats in favor of the bill.