California Progress Report

Water Legislation Beginning to Boil in California Special Session

First Hearing on Water Special Session Bills Next Week in Senate Assembly Democrats Announce Water Bills

September 28 , 2007

By Frank D. Russo

The California State Senate will begin hearings next Thursday, October 4 at 9:30 a.m. on the water special session when the Natural Resources & Water Committee meets. The panel will consider competing water supply reliability bonds and bills proposing expenditures of previously authorized water bond funds.

Assembly Bills Introduced

Assemblymember John Laird, who is the lead Assembly Democrat on the water special session, introduced a package of three bills Wednesday that Assembly Democrats are advancing during the special legislative session on water. According to Laird, these bills establish principles for what a final proposal should reflect and address issues including: the immediate crisis in the Delta; a comprehensive strategy that speaks to the state’s water challenges in a timely and cost-effective manner; a safe, clean and reliable water supply for all Californians, particularly disadvantaged communities; and ensuring fiscal responsibility and accountability.

Laird, the leader of the Assembly working group on water said: “These principles will be the lens that any water policy will be filtered through in the Assembly. In articulating these principles, the Assembly is seeking to ensure that anyone who shares in a solution also shares in the sacrifices necessary to bring that solution about. In technical terms, everyone has to give something to get something.”

The Assembly bills, all authored by Laird, are:

• AB 2X 1 Bond Intent
• AB 2X 2 Water Supply Reliability
• AB 2X 3 Delta Sustainability

The Assembly Democratic package is described as complementing proposals pending in the State Senate by Senate President pro Tem Don Perata. By most accounts the senate is expected to take the lead on water as the Assembly may be the lead dancer on health care.

The Assembly Republican caucus also announced the introduction of:

• ABX2 4 (Villines) Water resources: bond funds.
• ABX2 5 (DeVore) Water: electricity for desalination: nuclear energy.

“We’re pulling together many various pieces of a difficult puzzle to develop a responsible and achievable plan that will provide a safe, sufficient and sustainable water supply for every Californian,” Laird said. “Senate President pro Tem Don Perata and his team have been moving quickly to get water legislation into shape. We will work closely with them and I am confident the same cooperative spirit that brought us last year’s historic infrastructure bonds will flourish again this year.”

While the Secretary of State has announced an extended date for placing a bond on the February ballot, Laird cautioned that the complexity of the issue and the potential size of a bond to go before voters will require a significant amount of time for review, stating: “From improving drinking water quality, to improving regional water supply reliability, to protecting the state’s vital Sacramento - San Joaquin Delta, there are a lot of complex issues on the table – but as the Assembly works out the puzzle, all the pieces will be examined carefully to make sure there’s clean, reliable water at the tap.”

Senate Hearing and Lineup of Senate Bills

We do not know who will be testifying at next week's Senate hearings. My well paced Senate source said "everything is still fluid" (pun intended or not). From the description in the Senate file at present, with no specific bills listed, it appears that this may be an informational hearing, and one to begin evaluating the different bills' approaches rather than taking a vote to pass specific bills out of the committee.

The Senate bills introduced in the special session are:

SBX2 1 (Perata) Appropriates $611 million from bonds already passed by the voters in Propositions 1E and 84 on last November's ballot for water quality, flood control, water storage, and wildlife preservation. in bond funds already approved by the voters It is identical to SB 1002 (Perata) that passed during the regular session and is on the Governor's desk.

SBX2 2 (Perata), "The Water Supply Reliability Bond Act of 2008," is a $5.4 billion bond to be placed before the voters. $2 billion of this bond would go for "water supply reliability projects." Another %1.4 billion would go to Delta restoration and operation. A final $1 billion would go to regional projects to resolve conflicts with water supply and water quality. For more on the details of this bill, see our optimistic article that we might already have a water deal by now that we published before the Governor and Republican plan was announced.

SBX2 3 (Cogdill) is a competing bond measure for the ballot, also denominated in the bill as "The Water Supply Reliability Bond Act of 2008." It is a $9 billion bond with $5.6 billion in above and below ground water storage ($5.1 billion in surface storage and $500 million in groundwater storage) and specifically identifies three locations for surface storage (Sites, Temperance Flat Reservoir and Los Vaqueros Expansion Project.). It contains $1.9 billion for "Delta restoration and water supply reliability, and $500 million in grants for specified watersheds throughout the state.

SBX2 4 (Cogdill) Appropriates $552 million from on bonds already passed by the voters for water resources. This is a competing measure to SBX2 1 by Perata.

It appears that Senate Democrats are largely in agreement with the bills introduced by Senator Perata. All measures introduced can be passed by a majority vote.