Days before deadline, Gov. Brown pitches $7B water bond [San Diego Union-Tribune]
In
the latest pitch to ease California’s water crisis, Gov. Jerry Brown and
Democratic leaders on Monday proposed a roughly $7 billion water bond days
before the deadline to qualify for the November ballot….The question now is:
Will the governor and state lawmakers reach agreement on a bond before this
week’s deadline to place the measure on the ballot? They bought some time on
Monday by pushing back the printing of voter information guides two days, so
that any new bond measure can still appear in those guides. The sides have
until the end of the week to make sure a new bond measure can be placed on the
November ballot….The governor’s latest proposal is about $1 billion larger than
one he outlined last week. It proposes $2.5 billion for water storage projects,
up from the governor’s previous offer of $2 billion but still short of
Republicans’ request for $3 billion.
Editorial: Politicians finally
getting serious about a water bond [Modesto Bee]
…Monday
was supposed to be the deadline, but legislators pushed it aside. There’s
already a bond measure on the ballot, asking for $11 billion for water
projects. Call it the pinata plan – filled with enough candy for everyone, but
a target for anyone with a stick. No one expects it to get approved; hence the
need to replace it with a more tightly focused measure….California’s water
future depends on using water more wisely and finding better ways to conserve
it and use recycled water – which is where some of that other money would go.
But we also must have more storage, benefiting both farmers and fish….Gov.
Brown has promised to make his bond proposal tunnel-neutral. If he keeps that
promise, we hope no one will mount a fight. If he doesn’t, then he deserves the
fight he is guaranteed to get. We must not kick this issue down the dusty road.
We need more storage. Legislators need to work out an acceptable bond then work
hard to get it passed.
Editorial: A water bond seems
within reach, if no side overreaches [Sacramento Bee]
An
agreement on a revised water bond for the November ballot seemed within reach
on Monday, but only if no side gets too grabby. That includes legislators from
both parties and from all regions, and it includes members of
Congress….California farms help feed much of the nation. So Congress needs to
offer a hand. We hope that role is constructive….Legislation by Rep. David
Valadao, R-Hanford, and embraced by the other 14 House Republicans from
California would loosen the Endangered Species Act, on the theory such a step
would open the spigots….California’s water problem isn’t the Endangered Species
Act. It is that there hasn’t been sufficient rain in the past three years.
Why
you should care about the Capitol debate over groundwater [Sacramento Business
Journal]
Lawmakers
are currently considering a law on groundwater. If you drink water or
appreciate California-grown food, here's why you should care. Why groundwater
is important: More than three-quarters of Californians rely on groundwater for
at least some of their drinking water. Groundwater is also essential for
agriculture….Why this is controversial: A host of farming interest groups are
opposed to the bills from two Democratic lawmakers: Assemblyman Roger Dickinson
of Sacramento and Sen. Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills. A rushed bill could hurt
farmers, land values and the state economy, they say. The California Farm
Bureau Association wants to couple any new groundwater policies with a
simultaneous plan to increase the supply of surface water.
Kings
County hopes to take high-speed rail battle to state Supreme Court [Fresno Bee]
Kings
County foes of the California High-Speed Rail Authority's bullet-train plans
want to take their legal fight to the California Supreme Court. Stuart
Flashman, an Oakland attorney representing Kings County farmer John Tos,
Hanford homeowner Aaron Fukuda and the county's Board of Supervisors, said
Monday his clients have all agreed to challenge an appellate court's July 31
opinion in favor of the rail authority and the state, overturning a pair of
lower-court decisions:…Kings County has been a hotbed of opposition to the
California High-Speed Rail Authority's plans for several years, accusing the
rail agency of ignoring its concerns that the rail route veers from established
transportation corridors and makes wide, sweeping curves across the county's farmland.
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