Bill to block sale of O.C. fairgrounds heads to governor

A bill that would prevent the sale of the Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa is awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s review.

Assembly Bill 1907, from Assemblyman Tom Daly (D-Anaheim), cleared both houses of the state Legislature by wide margins over the summer and now requires the Democratic governor’s signature to become law.

“My bill simply strikes the provisions of law exposing the property to another potential sale and ensures that the Fair & Event Center remains the special place that it has long been for the people of Orange County,” Daly said in a statement Friday.

Daly introduced his bill in February. It cleared the state Assembly on June 1 and passed through the Senate on Aug. 17, according to legislative records.

“Let me just say the wheels of government move really, really slow, but this is welcome legislation and obviously we thank Assemblyman Daly,” Theresa Sears, a member of the Orange County Fair Preservation Society, said in an interview Friday.

The society has always opposed selling the fairgrounds to a private interest, Sears said, because “it belongs to the public ... it’s a public asset and it was very important it stay in the hands of the public.”

In 2009, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed selling the 150-acre, state-owned property to help ease the state’s budget deficit during the recession.

The proposal was challenged and eventually scrapped under Brown.

Allegations were made as to the legality of a sale, though two investigations from the Orange County district attorney’s office concluded that no Fair Board members committed any wrongdoing.

Since 2011, Daly said, the Fair & Event Center has been self-sustaining and operated at no cost to taxpayers.

The recently concluded Orange County Fair drew 1,344,976 guests over its 23-day run — a 3.3% increase over 2015’s attendance numbers, the fair said.