According to CalMatters Housing, Governor Newsom has introduced a last-minute legislative proposal that would exempt a Santa Monica oceanfront development from California's coastal environmental regulations. The project belongs to developer Jeff Worthe, who has donated more than $274,000 to Newsom's campaigns and inaugural fund between 2018 and 2022, and whom Newsom appointed to two state commissions. The proposal would waive the standard coastal development process unless Santa Monica adopts its own land use policies by the start of 2028.
The Santa Monica City Council and California Coastal Commission both approved this $350 million mixed-use project several years ago after Worthe agreed to contribute millions toward affordable housing and city infrastructure. However, those approvals have expired and construction never began, despite Worthe's earlier promises to start building. Environmental advocates and local lawmakers have sharply criticized the new proposal, seeing it as a dangerous precedent that would allow wealthy developers to bypass the 50-year-old California Coastal Act, which sets environmental standards for coastal projects.
This marks the third attempt by Newsom's office to expedite or exempt Worthe's project. Environmental coalitions successfully blocked similar proposals in May and June, and they are opposing this latest version as well. Local state legislators, including Assemblymember Rick Zbur who authored companion legislation setting a 2029 deadline for Santa Monica to develop its required coastal development plan, are also opposing the governor's proposal, arguing it would undermine their carefully negotiated bill that passed with unanimous Assembly support.
Environmental advocates worry that granting this exemption would signal that developers with sufficient resources and political connections can avoid the same regulatory requirements that apply to everyone else. According to CalMatters, the proposal's criteria appear specifically designed to apply only to Worthe's project, including a requirement that any qualifying development include a museum honoring architect Frank Gehry's work with authorization from his trustees. The governor declined to fully explain his reasoning for the proposal when asked about his connection to Worthe.
What I am seeing locally here in the Bay Area is that this kind of back-channel deal-making in Sacramento has real implications for how we think about development and fairness in our own region. When environmental protections get carved out for connected developers down south, it sends a message to everyone else about whose interests really matter in California's housing conversation. We need strong regulations that apply equally, or we lose credibility with the public and with the communities we serve.
