The board voted 3-2 against the measure, effectively shelving the plan for the remainder of the year and delivering a rare public rebuke to the governor’s office, which had been quietly shepherding negotiations over the proposal for months.

Supervisor Mitch Mashburn, who cast one of the deciding votes, said the legislation was being pushed through too quickly and left too many unresolved concerns, particularly around environmental oversight and outreach to labor unions and tribal nations.

“There is work that still has to be done on this legislation,” Mashburn said. “We shouldn’t be doing it because we’re rushed. We do have time.”

Supervisors Cassandra James and Wanda Williams sided with Mashburn, saying they’d prefer to take the issue up again next year rather than rush a decision under legislative deadline pressure.

At the heart of the debate was the proposed Solano Maritime and Manufacturing Act, which would have exempted roughly 1,350 acres along the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from California’s environmental review law for maritime and manufacturing projects, including any infrastructure tied to shipbuilding. County staff acknowledged the effort had originated from the governor’s office.

Supporters have long argued that a shipyard could generate more than 10,000 jobs and provide a much-needed economic jolt to a region that has struggled in recent years. But Mashburn said the county had been kept largely on the sidelines during negotiations, despite meetings he and James held with representatives from Newsom’s office, the Governor’s Office of Business Development, and California Forever.

“We’re the toddlers in the room and they’re patting us on the head and saying: ‘OK, you’re good. You had a say. We were democratic about it,'” Mashburn said.

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, had said for weeks that she would defer to the county’s decision. Following Tuesday’s vote, she confirmed to CalMatters that any legislative path forward this year is now closed.

“The governor can put on his own website language that he supports,” Wilson said. “Absent buy-in from the senator (Christopher Cabaldon) and I, I do not see how the language could be introduced.”

California Forever’s head of public affairs, Jim Wunderman, did not hide his disappointment with the board’s decision.

“There was an opportunity to move something forward that would have mattered for generations, and could really move this county forward in this region,” said Wunderman, former longtime CEO of the Bay Area Council. “They didn’t avail themselves of it, and they punted.”

Roughly 200 people packed the meeting in downtown Fairfield, many wearing pink shirts and buttons identifying them with Solano Together, a grassroots coalition opposed to any California Forever development in the county.

The vote comes on the heels of another setback for the project’s backers. Saronic Technologies Inc., a Texas-based shipbuilder that had reportedly been eyeing Solano County as a possible site, announced it would instead build its new facility in Brownsville, Texas.

The 14-page proposal before supervisors also included measures to fast-track construction permitting and establish a 45-day dispute resolution process overseen by a neutral “special master” appointed through the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. Provisions addressing labor protections and tribal consultation were added just days before the vote — additions Mashburn said were far from finished.

“The tribes all day have been pinging our folks about their issues with this legislation,” he said.

Wilson and state Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-Napa, both phoned into the meeting to reassure supervisors that the legislation was narrowly focused and would not strip the county of local control.

“We are not asking the board today to approve shipyards. We are not asking you to approve a developer. We are not asking you to surrender local control,” Wilson told the board. “We are asking whether Solano County should put itself in a position to be prepared.”

Cabaldon acknowledged supervisors had every right to reject the plan but warned that the Aug. 31 close of the legislative session left little room to revise the bill’s language at this stage.

That left the board facing a familiar dilemma — much like last year, when supervisors were asked to weigh in on last-minute language tied to the shipbuilding proposal.

Nearly three hours of public comment leaned heavily against the measure. Vallejo resident Jeff Deis dismissed the proposal as a “sweetheart deal” for California Forever, pointing to language in the bill describing the site as a “unique deepwater” location.

“The only thing unique about this is the deep pockets of the people that are promoting it and the methods they’re going about it,” Deis said.

Jasmine Westbrook, who identified herself as a fifth-generation Solano County resident, criticized the county for considering reliance on an environmental review from 2008 rather than conducting a fresh, project-specific study.

“Do not put billionaires over your community, your constituents, the environment, and the future of Solano County and the state. Do not set this precedent,” she said.

Several residents also raised concerns about bypassing the county’s voter-approved 1984 orderly growth initiative, which requires public approval for rezoning land. The legislation would have required officials to redesignate a “water dependent industrial” zone at California Forever’s request.

Not everyone opposed the plan. More than a dozen speakers voiced support, largely citing the need for stable, well-paying jobs in the region.

Matt Bailey, director of job seeker services for the Workforce Development Board of Solano County, argued that companies increasingly view the county as unwelcoming to new investment.

“What home-buying-wage jobs are you bringing to this community?” he asked supervisors.

John Kowalski, a union pipefitter and Vacaville resident, said his son lost his job when the Budweiser plant in Fairfield closed earlier this year and now commutes daily to San Jose for work.

“He’s missing out on his daughters’ softball practice, their soccer practice,” Kowalski said. “Please. Listen to Sacramento. Thank you.”

Original source: CalMatters

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