By Jorge Casuso

August 31, 2026 -- California environmentalists celebrated this weekend after Governor Gavin Newsom's trailer bill failed to include a "carve out" for a large Downtown Santa Monica development by a major campaign donor.

The last-minute proposal -- made public days before Friday's midnight deadline -- would have stripped Santa Monica and Coastal Commission oversight of a mixed-use hotel residential, and cultural campus designed by Frank Gehry for the Worthe Real Estate Group ("Last-Minute Budget Deal Would Exempt Major Downtown Project from Review," August 26, 2026) .

Shortly after a draft of the proposal was made public Tuesday, dozens of environmental groups and hundreds of residents rallied to stop the last minute legislation they warned would “create dangerous exemptions to the Coastal Act.”

"Residents, coastal advocates, community organizations, and local leaders spoke up," environmental leaders wrote on social media Saturday. "We called. We emailed. We showed up.

"We made it clear that Santa Monica should not be singled out for special legislation that weakens coastal protections or bypasses the normal public process," the post said.

"This is a win for our coast, for transparency, and for the power of an engaged community."

Although the proposed bill does not identify the development by name, the eligibility criteria narrows it down to The Ocean Avenue Project proposed by the Worthe Group that includes 120 hotel rooms and 100 apartments.

The project integrates two historic buildings, 25 affordable rental units and 19 rent-control apartments, and includes as many as 285 parking spaces and a museum honoring Gehry containing his archives, designs, renderings or models.

The proposed project was approved by both the City Council and Coastal Commission, but Worthe let the permit expire "because he didn’t want to provide the required mitigation to protect lower-cost hotel rooms in Santa Monica," environmental consultant Kim Delfino wrote in an email outlining the budget bill proposal.

Finance records show that between 2018 and 2022, Worthe donated more than $274,000 to Newsom's campaign and inaugural fund.

Worthe's Santa Monica project was included in the trailer bill as an amended version of AB 1740 makes its way towards legislative approval, allowing the Coastal Commission to retain control over Santa Monica's coastal zone while the City hammers out a Local Coastal Program.