Bad bonds and good legislation: special committee on water gets an earful

From the California Progress Report:

On Tuesday, the Assembly Special Committee on Water passed two strong water bills to the Assembly Floor and also heard testimony from many parties who have serious concerns about proposals to place a nearly $10 billion water bond on the November ballot.

The committee’s first order of business was to pass SBX2 1 (Perata), which appropriates existing bond funds for much needed ecosystem restoration, water quality, and water supply reliability projects, and ABX2 7 (Wolk) , which ensures water planning and management will incorporate existing information on the impacts of climate change to water resources. SBX2 1 subsequently passed off of the Assembly Floor on Thursday and ABX2 7 is scheduled to be heard on the Assembly Floor on Friday. Both of these bills have garnered broad support and are priority bills for the environmental community.

The committee then turned its attention to an informational hearing on the Assembly water bond proposal, ABX2 8, and the bond proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. Both these proposals would provide over $9 billion in bond funds. Both include $3 billion for highly controversial water storage projects including new dams. The informational hearing consisted of several panels of stakeholders giving their input on the water proposals.

Read more from the California Progress Report by clicking here.

Comments

Admin

• Log in

Credits

Powered by Vertigo & WordPress
WordPress Themes by Brian Gardner