Governor Gray Davis and the legislature have provided a healthy infusion of funds for the coast this fiscal year. The State Parks Department can at last repair many of its dilapidated facilities, including recreational piers and beach access facilities, with $157 million provided in the 1999–2000 budget. The Coastal Commission has a total of $13.52 million, 13 percent more than last year, and has begun to recover from more than 15 years of fiscal starvation. The Coastal Conservancy’s $81 million budget is more than double last year’s, allowing the agency to undertake many land acquisition and restoration projects, including:

• $10.25 million to purchase wildlife habitat in San Diego County, divided among the Tijuana River Valley ($2 million), the Otay River Valley ($3.25 million), and the San Diego County Multiple Species Conservation Program ($5 million).
• $10 million for restoring wetlands and providing coastal access through the Governor’s “challenge grants” program, which requires at least equal contributions by grantees.
• $10 million for the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program, inaugurated two years ago but unfunded until now, to protect and improve wildlife habitat and recreational lands around the Bay.
• $5.6 million for the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, a partnership of 15 state and federal agencies working to acquire, restore, and enhance coastal wetlands and watersheds between the Mexican border and Point Conception. The partnership, formed in 1998, has begun two restoration projects so far, and has identified over 20 potential projects in both urban and undeveloped South Coast areas.
• $5 million to protect open space and wildlife habitat on Santa Barbara County’s Gaviota coast by helping to buy easements along the bluffs of the longest stretch of open coast in southern California.
• $5 million to purchase the 4,900-acre Palo Corona Ranch at the north end of Big Sur. This property is rich in redwoods, wildlife habitat, and spectacular views, and adjoins lands already open to the public.
• $3 million for buying habitat and recreational lands along the Mendocino County coast, including additions to the Coastal Trail, which will eventually run from Oregon to Mexico.
• $2.5 million for the San Francisco Bay Trail, a 400-mile network of hiking and bicycling trails, about half of which has been completed.
• $1.5 million for Oakland’s Union Point Park, to be built on a former industrial site on the Oakland Estuary, near low-income neighborhoods with a scarcity of parks and open space.

The coastal commission’s ability to carry out its responsibilities under the California Coastal Act was severely undermined in the early 1980s, when Governor George Deukmejian, who wanted to abolish the Commission, inflicted drastic budget cuts.

Until last year, this agency, which bears responsibility for the State’s entire 1,100-mile coast, worked with obsolete computers. At an international conference attended by representatives from 41 countries and 35 coastal states, Executive Director Peter Douglas found that only Cameroon, Bulgaria, and the California Coastal Commission lacked e-mail. This was finally remedied last year.

The budget increase of $1.56 million above last year’s allows the Commission, for the first time, to hire a geologist, a biologist, a water quality specialist, and a geographic information systems specialist; to add a total of 16 staff positions; and to reopen the North Coast office, shut down 15 years ago. “This is definitely a good start,” says Chief Deputy Executive Officer James Burns.

The hope is that more funds will be forthcoming over the next several years, to build on this promising beginning. While the Commission’s responsibilities have increased in recent years, the budget signed by Governor Gray Davis is still 24 percent below ($4 million less, in today’s dollars) that of 1982–83. With the new hires, Commission staff, now numbering 138, will still be 36 (21 percent) fewer than that of 1982–83.

The State Parks Department, also fiscally starved for years, received a healthy $137 million to start catching up on its estimated $1 billion maintenance backlog. That’s $107 million more for deferred maintenance than last year’s budget provided. For 1997–98 there was nothing. State Parks also received $10 million for cultural projects and $10 million for nature projects.

Corey Brown, government affairs director for the Trust for Public Land, commented that the State Finance Department has estimated that $579 million is needed for coastal protection. “We believe it’s a very conservative estimate,” Brown said, “but the budget approved by Governor Davis is a major step forward. Another major step would be a parks, coastal protection, and open space bond act in the year 2000.” AB18, a $2.2 billion bond measure sponsored by Speaker of the Assembly Antonio Villaraigosa and Speaker pro Tem Fred Keeley, has been signed by the govenor and will be on the March ballot. AB1584, a $1.97 billion water bond bill introduced my Assemblyman Michael Machado and Senator Jim Costa, as passed and awaits the govenor's signature.