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Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing for an eleventh-hour legislative proposal that would give an environmental carve-out to a Santa Monica developer who is a Newsom appointee to state commissions and longtime donor.

The draft proposal, obtained by CalMatters, would effectively exempt a mixed-use project on Santa Monica’s oceanfront, designed by the late architect Frank Gehry, from the state’s environmental regulations of coastal developments, unless the city adopts its own land use policies by Jan. 1, 2028.

The project belongs to Jeff Worthe, who, along with his wife Kristin Worthe, has donated more than $274,000 to Newsom’s campaigns and inaugural fund between 2018 and 2022, according to state campaign finance records. Newsom appointed Worthe to the California Privacy Protection Agency Board in 2023, and then to the California High-Speed Rail Authority last year.

Approval for $350 Million Project Lapsed

The Santa Monica City Council and the California Coastal Commission both approved the $350 million project a few years ago after Worthe agreed to pay millions of dollars toward low-cost housing and city infrastructure. But the approvals lapsed, and the project never broke ground despite Worth’s promise to start building in early 2025.

The new last-minute proposal shocked and angered a coalition of environmental advocates, who for months have urged state leaders to reject any backdoor deal to exempt any project from the California Coastal Act, a 50-year-old law that set the environmental standard for coastal development.

In May, the coalition successfully fought off a legislative proposal that would have expedited Worthe’s project. In June, they fended off another proposal from Newsom’s office that would have exempted most housing developments along Santa Monica’s shoreline from the act. About 90,000 people live in the city, which is known for its famous pier and a long stretch of beachside restaurants and hotels.

The specific carveouts in the latest proposal would set a precedent of overriding coastal environment protections for the interest of wealthy developers, said Susan Jordan, executive director of the California Coastal Protection Network.

“Every other developer is going to want the same treatment,” Jordan said. “It sends the message: If you have deep pockets, you get a big payoff.”

Assemblymember Rick Zbur, a Democrat representing Santa Monica, said he received the proposal Monday night. He said he opposes it because it would undermine Assembly Bill 1740, which he authored this year to set a deadline for Santa Monica to develop its land use plan — known as a “local coastal program” — by Jan. 1, 2029. The bill passed 76-0 in the Assembly Tuesday and is headed to the governor’s desk.

The city is one of 14 in California without such a plan, which means developers must obtain individual permits directly from the California Coastal Commission, which often takes longer.

Both Area Lawmakers Oppose It

Newsom’s proposal would fast-track Worthe’s project if the city fails to develop a plan by 2028 — a soft deadline the city had set for itself in a June agreement with the coastal commission.

“This isn’t about the project,” Zbur told CalMatters. “It’s about the precedent of exempting a project and about doing something that is in conflict (with) and undermines a bill that I just worked so hard to bring all the parties together on.”

Sen. Ben Allen, an El Segundo Democrat who also represents the area, similarly opposed the proposal, arguing it would incentivize developers to delay the city from creating a local coastal plan. Allen said he supports Zbur’s legislation instead.

“I … am not interested in unwinding that work,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

Newsom has been critical of the coastal commission and appointed several pro-housing commissioners in recent years to speed up coastal development.

Trump’s Probe of the Coastal Commission

His proposal comes as President Donald Trump has sought to weaken California’s environmental regulations and push for offshore oil drilling. The Trump administration has launched an investigation into the coastal commission’s authority, which environmental activists, the commission and Newsom himself see as a power grab intended to undermine the state’s environmental protections.

But environmental advocates called Newsom hypocritical for criticizing Trump while pushing a regulatory carveout for the Santa Monica project.

Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš, founder of the climate justice advocacy group Azul, said it would be dangerous to “weaken our law instead of strengthening it” now.

Jordan, of the California Coastal Protection Network, said Newsom is following Trump’s playbook.

“He’s carving up the Coastal Act. He’s selling it to the highest bidder. And we don’t need a governor to be doing that, and we certainly don’t need our next president to do that,” she said.

When asked about his link to Worthe and why he’s pushing for the proposal late in the session, Newsom declined to comment. But he said he spoke with one state lawmaker who represents the area two days ago — without identifying who — and received “healthy feedback.”

“It’s a work in progress,” Newsom said at a Wednesday press conference in Vallejo. “We are in the process of negotiating and discussing it with them.”

The last-minute proposal comes after a Worthe-linked company spent $270,000 between January and June lobbying the Legislature and the governor’s office on Zbur’s legislation and other budget issues, according to state lobbying records. Lobbyist Bob Giroux reported receiving the payments from Catalina Media Development LLC, which is affiliated with Worthe’s real estate company.

Worthe did not respond to an email inquiry from CalMatters, and Giroux could not be reached immediately for comment.

What the Bill Would Do

Under the proposal, only housing projects in Santa Monica that meet a narrow set of criteria would benefit from the coastal act exemptions.

The measure would only apply to a residential or mixed-use development, and would not apply to a hotel or residential inn. Qualifying housing projects must meet certain labor standards and sustainability requirements. The sites must be in urban areas and must not be near wetlands, environmentally sensitive areas or too close to the ocean.

But one criterion stands out: The qualifying project must include a museum honoring Gehry’s work with written authorization from Gehry’s trustees.

The only project that seems to check all the boxes is Worthe’s proposed mixed-use development at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue.

The previously approved plans included a 120-room hotel, 100 apartments that would include some affordable units, more than 70,000 square feet for commercial and “cultural use,” a 5,000-square-foot rooftop observation deck and nearly 300 parking spaces.

In an agreement with the city council, Worthe agreed to pay $6 million toward city transportation, parks and recreation, affordable housing, early childhood programs and economic development initiatives in exchange for building the project. In 2023, at the coastal commission staff’s suggestion, he also agreed to contribute another $6.5 million to a youth hostel next to the project site to provide lower-cost housing in the area.

Newsom’s proposal would only kick in if the city fails to certify its local coastal plan by 2028.

Newsom’s Proposed Timeline

Under the measure, the coastal commission must publicly hear the project application within 90 days and make a decision within 30 days. The proposal assumes that the project complies with environmental regulations unless the commission proves the development would “result in a specific, adverse and unavoidable impact” to the environment.

But the state should not try to rush the design of complicated land use policies, Jordan argued.

“If that means you need to go six months over a deadline, then you should do that, and you should not be penalized by making the correct decision,” Jordan said.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.