AB 1991: When is the coast not in the coastal zone?

After years of legal wrangling, the city of Half Moon Bay lost a court battle against a land developer and chose to settle the case. In a bizarre settlement agreement, Half Moon Bay agreed to pay the developer millions of dollars unless they were successful in passing legislation that would exempt the developer’s property from all environmental laws, including the Coastal Act. Not surprisingly, the environmental community strongly and unanimously opposed AB 1991 (Mullin), which contained the city’s jailbreak. The bill never saw the light of day in the Senate.