HMB bailout plan is still pretty murky

Assembly member Jerry Hill’s bill to get Half Moon Bay $10 million for its Beachwood settlement, AB650, is still riddled with uncertainties even as it nears a do-or-die shot at two-thirds votes in both houses of the state legislature. On Friday, Hill restructured AB650 from a grant to a loan by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank.

Julia Scott at the County Times had an conversation with Assemblyman Hill that was similar to the one we had last Friday, in which he hedged on the ultimate structure of funding in the bill. Scott also discovered that the guy that runs the I-Bank had never heard of AB650 as of Monday.

Hill said the California Infrastructure Bank Fund was one possible source of funding and the language of the bill could change again to reflect other possibilities later on.

"There may be several funding sources, there may be other grants and loans," said Hill. "The purpose is to try to get something that will work and that will keep the bill moving." ...

"What you describe is completely unique to me. There are a lot of requirements that must be met by each municipality to qualify to borrow and what they can borrow for," said [I-Bank Executive Director Stanton] Hazelroth. ...

Hill maintains that Beachwood will still be turned into a park under the loan scenario, although the new bill language does not contain the word "park."