Bruce's Beach A Step Closer To Being Returned To Owners' Descendants

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A bill that would allow for the return of a stretch of beachfront property known as Bruce's Beach to the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce has cleared another hurdle.

State Senate Bill 796 Tuesday passed out of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Water with strong bipartisan support, Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, who authored the bill, said.

"SB 796 is what reparations looks like," Bradford said in a statement. "This bill recognizes that if you can inherit generational wealth in this country, you can inherit generational debts too.

"In the case of Willa and Charles Bruce, the City of Manhattan Beach, the County, and the State owe a debt that has been compounding for nearly 100 years," he continued. "When it comes to addressing systemic racism, we all need to get involved. I appreciate my fellow legislators for doing the right thing."

The move comes one week after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion to return the property to the Bruce's descendants and another to sponsor SB 796, needed to transfer ownership of the property from the county to the family.

The bill is now headed to the Senate Appropriations Committee, after which it will be considered by the full Senate. If approved, it will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk and, due to an urgency clause within the text of the bill, will go into effect immediately after being signed.