Ocean conservation bill clears committee hurdle (Updated from Print)

Editor’s Note: The Senate Appropriations Committee announced AB 3030 would not move forward this year. This bill is off the docket, for now. SACRAMENTO—A proposal to implement protections for at least 30 percent of California waters and 30 percent of the ocean off the state’s coast was approved by a committee in the State Senate, Aug. 12 – despite vocal oppositions by dozens of recreational boating and fishing interests. Members if the State Senate’s Committee on Natural Resources and Water approved Assembly Bill 3030 (AB 3030) by a 6-2 vote, allowing the proposal to move forward to the upper house’s Appropriations Committee. Several organizations have actively campaigned against AB 3030 during these past few months. The Coastal Conservation Association of California and Angler Chronicles regularly posted messages in opposition of AB 3030 on their respective Facebook pages. Both organizations were also part of a larger coalition of groups who wrote a letter to State Sen. Henry Stern in mid-July, asking the legislator from Southern California to vote against the bill. Stern was one of the six members on the Committee for Natural Resources and Water to vote in favor of AB 3030. The bill itself was introduced earlier this year by Assembly Member...