{"id":233570,"date":"2026-03-24T03:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T03:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233570\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T03:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T03:23:15","slug":"california-bill-aims-to-designate-beloved-wave-breaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233570\/","title":{"rendered":"California bill aims to designate beloved wave breaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Southern California lawmaker hopes to create a new designation for the state\u2019s iconic wave breaks through the creation of \u201csurfing reserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Excepting perhaps Hawaii, California\u2019s coastline is home to more world-famous waves than any state. Breaks dot the coast, from renowned Malibu and San Diego beaches to the monstrous Mavericks big wave spot near Half Moon Bay to dozens of lesser known waves (including some consciously kept secret by local surfers) running from the Mexico to Oregon borders.<\/p>\n

Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, seeks to officially recognize popular breaks, particularly as they face threats from rising seas, coastal erosion and pollution. She\u2019s introduced a bill that would create a process for local governments to designate treasured breaks as \u201csurfing reserves\u201d with the California Ocean Protection Council \u2014 a conservation body the Legislature created in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

The bill won\u2019t immediately create any new environmental protections for surf spots, but could lay the groundwork for such measures down the road, Irwin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look at it as much more of a way to increase tourism and call attention to these zones as areas that should be protected,\u201d Irwin said. The bill doesn\u2019t have any vocal opposition, Irwin said, but the Legislature has failed to pass it on previous occasions.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly in the future, you could look at having surfing reserves be part of (land conservation programs),\u201d Irwin said. \u201cWe just are trying … to do a first step that\u2019ll have a low cost and could really create a lot of excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irwin\u2019s bill would require the Ocean Protection Council to create criteria that local governments need to meet to receive the surfing reserve designation. The council must consider \u201cwave quality and consistency, surf culture and history, environmental characteristics, and management priorities,\u201d in that criteria.<\/p>\n

When applying for the designation, local governments would also document the economic impact of the surf break.<\/p>\n

Surfing is big business, both in California and worldwide. One 2025 study<\/a>, commissioned by local surf advocacy groups, found that in Santa Cruz alone visiting surfers brought an economic impact of more than $44 million a year.<\/p>\n

That same study found that a rising ocean would lessen the area breaks\u2019 number of surfable days. If the ocean rises by a foot, which 2022 research led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association suggested was likely by 2050, Santa Cruz wave breaks would lose enough surfable days to cut down visitor expenditures by almost $13 million.<\/p>\n

In the short term, however, California surfing is set to get a big boost on the world stage in 2028, when Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics. Surfing debuted as an Olympic sport in Japan in 2020, but the waves were small. In 2024, the competition moved to the French Polynesian island of Teahupo\u2019o, one of the world\u2019s most famous, and feared, breaks. Tens of millions of viewers watched captivated as surfers navigated thunderous waves that broke over a dangerous reef.<\/p>\n

In 2028, the third Olympic surf competition is slated to take at Trestles State Beach, a state park just south of San Clemente on the border of Orange and San Diego counties that is known for consistent and powerful waves.<\/p>\n

Irwin\u2019s bill was scheduled for an assembly committee vote late Monday.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published March 23, 2026 at 4:50 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Andrew Graham<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Andrew Graham reports for The Sacramento Bee\u2019s Capitol Bureau, where he covers the Legislature and state politics. He previously reported in Wyoming, for the nonprofit WyoFile, and in Santa Rosa at The Press Democrat. He studied journalism at the University of Montana.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Southern California lawmaker hopes to create a new designation for the state\u2019s iconic wave breaks through the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,105831,63778,105832,105834,105833],"class_list":{"0":"post-233570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-california-surfing-reserves","12":"tag-coastal-conservation","13":"tag-surf-break-protection","14":"tag-surfing-tourism","15":"tag-trestles-state-beach"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}