State Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, said she expects to introduce additional recommendations about the airport authority’s future later this month. The legislation she unveiled today is preliminary, she said. It calls for giving the authority’s land-use compatibility planning to the San Diego Association of Governments, SANDAG.
“There’s more to come,” she said.
More recommendations will be introduced later this month to address the airport authority’s two-tiered membership and its number of board members, Kehoe said. The authority has nine members; three are paid a $150,000 annual salary while the other six receive a $100-per-meeting stipend. Kehoe also plans to call for a taxpayers oversight committee for the authority.
Kehoe, who held two hearings this fall to get suggestions about the authority’s future, called the bill’s political support “a fluid situation.”
“We have support,” she said, “but clearly there are some people that are questioning the purpose of the bill and whether we need to do it at all. To me, this is about good governance and saving the taxpayers money. We are going to continue to work to get support for the bill.”
Kehoe’s legislation, Senate Bill 10, has not been introduced on an urgent basis. Such a step would have allowed its recommendations – if approved – to have taken effect immediately. Kehoe said she expects the legislative process to take between six and 10 months. Broad support for the bill would speed that up, she said.