Assemblymember Das Williams took to Facebook Wednesday afternoon to post “Woowhoo!” after his unique Isla Vista bill — AB 3 — easily passed out of the Assembly’s Local Government Committee. The approval was not unexpected. Neither was the fact that a dozen Isla Vistans, many who had spent every Tuesday evening since December exhaustively creating details of the bill, trekked to the State Capitol for the hearing. Unlike most legislation, AB 3 started life as a shell of a bill which has been slowly filled in during 42 weekly meetings held over the past half-year.
Wednesday’s approval was one step in a long road ahead. AB 3 — which would morph the unincorporated area of I.V. into a community service district (CSD) — must clear many hurdles, including the Appropriations Committee, the Assembly and Senate floors, and Governor Jerry Brown, before it can get to the ballot in 2016. At that point, a majority of Isla Vista voters has to approve its creation. To secure funds to actually operate, a utilities user tax would have to be okayed by two-thirds of voters on a second ballot in 10 years' time. (Otherwise the district would dissolve.)
Though he could not make the trip to Sacramento, longtime education advocate Lanny Ebenstein watched the hearing online and called the vote an “unmitigated victory.” Ebenstein, who first met Williams in the '90s during the push to incorporate Goleta, has been on-and-off involved in AB 3 discussions. He was encouraged that Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, a Republican who chairs the Local Government Committee, opted not to oppose what he called “unprecedented” legislation because he spent years in Isla Vista; he went to UCSB and lived on Sabado Tarde, the street where this week’s shooting occurred.