Assembly votes to give city final say over Children's Pool seals
FOX 5 San Diego Staff

July 9, 2009
SAN DIEGO—
The state Assembly voted unanimously Thursday to approve a bill that gives the city of San Diego more authority over the fate of a colony of harbor seals at the Children's Pool in La Jolla.

The Senate voted 30-4 in April to approve Senate Bill 428, authored by Sen. Christine Kehoe, (D-San Diego), which now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature.

"If this bill is signed into law it will return local control to the city of San Diego and with it the right to decide what uses are permissible at the Children's Pool,'' Kehoe said in a statement.

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A 1931 trust designated the beach as a bathing area for children. Kehoe's bill would amend the trust to also allow for a marine mammal habitat and gives the San Diego City Council the authority to decide whether to keep the seals at the Children's Pool.

It's unclear whether the council would vote to keep the seals.

In February, the City Council voted to ask Kehoe to draft the bill in an effort to end costly lawsuits over the colony of harbor seals that have occupied the beach in recent years.

A Superior Court judge ordered the city to honor the trust and restore the Children's Pool by dispersing the seals, but a federal directive was later issued temporarily blocking the removal of the animals.