February 27, 2009

Two water bond proposals, one from Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter), and another from Senator Dave Cogdill (R-Fresno) were introduced this week for the purpose of financing water supply reliability and environmental restoration programs. Both proposals have some similarities to the Senator Feinstein-Governor Schwarzenegger July 9, 2008 Water Bond Proposal. Farm Bureau is actively engaged with the authors and will continue to analyze the proposals, participate in their development and on-going negotiations, all the while advocating the need for new surface storage, area of origin water rights protections and the need for a continuous appropriation provision to insure the money is actually spent on a comprehensive package.

SB 301 (Dean Florez, D-Shafter), if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of $15 billion general obligation bonds to finance water supply reliability and ecosystem recovery and restoration programs. Farm Bureau’s position on this bill is pending during the continuing developments.

SB 371 (Dave Cogdill, R-Fresno), also up for approval by the voters, would authorize the issuance of $9.98 billion general obligation bonds to finance water supply reliability and water source protection programs. As with SB 301, Farm Bureau is continuing to be actively involved with the bill’s development.

The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water held a hearing this week on the current status and next steps for the Delta Vision and Bay-Delta Conservation Plan. The Committee received an update from Deputy Secretary for Water Policy, Joe Grindstaff, on Delta Vision and the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, with a panel represented by Phil Isenberg, Chair of the Governor’s Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, Ellen Hanak of the Public Policy Institute of California and Catherine Freeman from the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Water experts representing a diverse group of water agencies and districts throughout California also offered additional perspectives. The hearing set the tone for water supply reliability and environmental improvement discussions to come before the Senate this year.

The Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife held an informational hearing this week on implementing the Delta Vision. The Committee Chair opened the hearing with introductory remarks and introduced committee consultant Alf Brandt. Professor Jay Lund from UC Davis and Mr. Brandt gave an overview and history of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Chair of the Governor’s Delta Blue Ribbon Task Force, Phil Isenberg, and Task Force member Richard Frank gave an overview of their work on Task Force, their plan and ultimately the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force Committee recommendations to the Governor. Mr. Isenberg stated the Committee recommendations differed somewhat from the plan, but a key difference was to move more slowly developing the governance piece of the plan. Presentations were made by the Legislative Analyst’s Office on the financing challenges to implementing the plan and by Natural Resources Agency, Deputy Secretary for Water Policy Joe Grindstaff on implementing the Delta Vision. Much like the Senate’s Natural Resources and Water Committee hearing, this informational hearing is the beginning of water supply reliability and environmental improvement discussions to come before the committee this year.