After several days of intense negotiations by legislative leaders, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called a special session late Sunday to continue working on California’s water crisis. A water deal had been a stipulation of the Governor’s in exchange for evaluating legislation. He decided several hours before the final deadline to sign or veto bills that enough progress had been made by the Big 5 leaders on water for him to take action on bills. It was at that time that the Governor called the Seventh Extraordinary Session to finalize work on water.
A proclamation signed by the Governor called for the special session to begin Monday, Oct. 12. Lawmakers are expected to begin holding hearings on the water legislation as early as Monday, Oct. 19.
The Sacramento Bee reported that key elements that continue to keep a water deal from coming together include: (Bullets taken directly from Sacramento Bee)
· Democrats want monitoring and regulation of groundwater resources. Republicans are wary of imposing this on farmers suffering from drought.
· Republicans want billions of dollars included in a proposed bond measure to build dams, saying only new surface storage can resolve shortages. Democrats say aggressive conservation and groundwater storage can do the job.
· Both sides want the price of a bond measure whittled down. The most recent proposal includes a $9.3 billion bond.
· Northern California water agencies want assurances they won’t have to give up water for a controversial canal proposed to divert Sacramento River water across the Delta.
· The five Delta counties are concerned about how the canal will be approved, how thousands of acres of proposed restoration lands will be managed, and whether they will have an adequate role in both.
League Water Task Force
The League has been actively monitoring the work of state legislators on water issues and at the same time been working hard to update our 20-year old water policy.
The League’s Water Task Force has been regularly meeting over the past six months to update the League’s policies on water issues. The Task Force initially broke the issues down in to three subcategories and is now preparing for a final vote on the document. A final vote is expected by the Task Force during the first week of November.
The guidelines will then be discussed and voted on by the League’s Environmental Quality Policy Committee during the first and second week of November and could be taken up by the League’s board of directors as early as the November meeting. A copy of the draft guidelines can be found on the League’s Web site.
