House Passes Appropriations Legislation with Funding for Key Projects in CA-49
Washington, D.C. – Today, the House of Representatives passed government funding legislation that includes key projects and priorities Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) secured for California’s 49th District. The bill includes $9.3 million to shore up coastal bluffs in San Clemente, $5 million for pedestrian infrastructure in Carlsbad, $2.25 million to develop a new homeless shelter in Oceanside, and four other community projects for a total of $21 million in funding for the District. The bill also has funding for programs that are local priorities, including $27.5 million for nuclear waste disposal efforts at the Dept. of Energy (DoE), $35 million for the Border Water Infrastructure Program (BWIP), and $1.6 billion for the Impact Aid program, which supports K-12 schools serving children in military families like those at San Onofre Elementary and Mary Fay Elementary.
“My top priority is delivering results on our local needs, and I’m proud to report that the House appropriations legislation includes funding to address many of the most pressing issues facing North County San Diego and South Orange County,” said Rep. Levin. “With the funding in this bill, we can begin construction to protect coastal bluffs in San Clemente from dangerous erosion, provide more shelter beds and supportive services for homeless individuals in Oceanside, build infrastructure to keep pedestrians safe in Carlsbad, and so much more. The bill also advances key energy and environmental priorities, with funding for electric buses in Oceanside, programs to address pollution in the Tijuana River Valley, and funding for interim storage of nuclear waste like the spent nuclear fuel at San Onofre. I am proud to see funding for these projects advance through the House today, and I am hopeful we can get these priorities across the finish line soon.”
The bill also provides funding for job training, education, and veterans’ health care benefits for families in the 49th District. The bill increases funding for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Adult and Youth State Grants, which can provide job training for 116,000 eligible youth and adults in the District. It also provides an 118 percent increase in Title I education funds, which benefits an estimated 44,000 children in the District. And the bill provides an eight percent increase in funding for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which provides health care services for 15,000 veterans in the District. More information on those provisions is available here.
The following projects for North County San Diego and South Orange County are included in the bill:
San Clemente Shoreline Project ($9.3 million)
- The San Clemente Shoreline Project focuses on providing protection for the Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor (LOSSAN Corridor) tracks that run immediately adjacent to the San Clemente coast. The project is designed to protect this asset while also protecting roads, buildings, and other infrastructure, as well as maintain recreational use of San Clemente’s coastline. The project involves placing about 251,000 cubic yards of sand on the City beach from Linda Lane to T-street, a distance of about 3,400 feet. This will widen the beach about 50 feet to provide storm damage reduction, safety, recreational benefits for the public.
Oceanside Special Shoreline Study ($750,000)
- The project involves efforts to mitigate for the erosion and other impacts resulting from the construction of Camp Pendleton Harbor as a wartime measure, and to restore beach conditions along the affected public and private shores to the conditions that existed before the construction of Camp Pendleton Harbor.
Literacy Through Art and ArtQuest ($150,000)
- This project would improve educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged students by providing the Oceanside Museum of Art with funding to promote and advance reading fluency and comprehension through active, purposeful engagement with real works of art, artmaking, and culturally responsive literature. The funding would also be used to promotes 21st century skills, including inquiry, critical thinking, collaboration, and visual literacy.
Carlsbad Barrio Street Lighting and Traffic Circles Project ($5 million)
- The Barrio Street Lighting and Traffic Circles Project will enhance safety, walkability and aesthetics within the Barrio neighborhood. The street lighting portion of the project will install 24-foot to 26-foot streetlight poles along streets throughout the Barrio neighborhood to improve nighttime visibility for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Additionally, 13-foot pedestrian lighting will be installed throughout the Barrio neighborhood in order to specifically facilitate neighborhood walkability. The second component of the Project will install 6 traffic circles located throughout the Barrio neighborhood for traffic calming and beautification purposes.
Doheny Village Connectivity Improvements ($1.87 million)
- The project will add bike lanes and beautification elements (landscaping, lighting, landscaped median), fill in a sidewalk gap on the inland side of Coast Highway, reconfigure the intersection of Doheny Park Road and Coast Highway to allow for better bicycle/pedestrian connectivity, add a second southbound thru lane as outlined in the OCTA Master Plan of Arterial Highways, and other improvements. The area has limited provisions today for bicycles and pedestrians which are of the utmost importance to the community.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Bus Transition ($1.7 million)
- This project involves construction of a hydrogen fueling station with capacity for fueling up to 50 fuel cell electric buses. The hydrogen fueling station will be constructed at the North County Transit District's West Division Facility in the City of Oceanside. The project supports regional and state goals of reducing harmful emissions in the transportation sector.
Oceanside Homeless Shelter Development ($2.25 million)
- This project involves development of a new homeless shelter at a former high school facility. The shelter would operate up to 50 beds. The City of Oceanside intends for the shelter to have day services to allow participants to remain on-site throughout the day. The resulting homeless shelter will help individuals experiencing homelessness develop a pathway towards permanent housing, income, health care, and stability through continued care services.
Rep. Levin also helped secure the following local priorities in the legislation:
- $1.6 billion for Impact Aid, which is $51 million above the FY21 level
- The Impact Aid program provides critical support to over 1,200 school districts that serve some of the most vulnerable student populations, including Native American and military connected children. This funding could provide aid to K-12 schools on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, such as San Onofre Elementary and Mary Fay Elementary.
- $27.5 million for Nuclear Waste Disposal, including $20 million for interim storage
- The bill provides $27.5 million for interim storage of nuclear waste and oversight of the Nuclear Waste Fund, which ratepayers have contributed to for decades.
- $35 million for BWIP
- The Border Water Infrastructure Program supports projects that address cross-border sewage flows in the Tijuana River Valley and other waterbodies in the border region.
- Report language encouraging the procurement of electric USPS vehicles
- The language encourages the United States Postal Service to procure electric vehicles that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Modified report language on VA Transition Assistance grants
- The language directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to work towards timely implementation of the transition assistance grant program established by Section 4304 of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020, Rep. Levin’s legislation that became law in January 2021. Rep. Levin originally proposed the grant as part of the Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William "Bill" Mulder (Ret.) Transition Improvement Act of 2019.
- Report language on HUD-VASH case management
- This language recommends that VA’s budget for case managers be increased commensurate with any increases in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) budget for new HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers and to account for increased costs in staffing and recent expansions in eligibility. Understaffing at VA has contributed to thousands of HUD-VASH vouchers going unused, despite the fact that more than 37,000 veterans are homeless.
- $46.2 billion in Housing Assistance
- The funding will support programs within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to keep low-income families at risk of homelessness in their homes
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