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Calif. legislators gushing over water package passage
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Bethel Island, Calif., one area where a proposed canal to funnel water around the delta is planned.
After several months of heated discussions, periodic veto threats by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a boat load of newspaper columns saturated in heresay, a strategy to patch up the sore that is California's water plight has finally achieved bipartisan carte blanche.
A five-bill reform package, with an estimated cost expected to exceed $20 billion in the long run, was approved Tuesday following some overtime by Republican and Democratic lawmakers. The proposal, if passed by voters in 2010, could help with improving the state's water situation through stricter monitoring of underground pumping and increased efforts to safeguard the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. One component of the package is an $11 billion bond measure that will aid recycling efforts, provide drought assistance and help boost area water treatment programs, among other things.
Gov. Schwarzenegger strongly supports the package, calling it "the most comprehensive water infrastructure in California history."
Over the next 12 months, Gov. Schwarzenegger, as well as Democratic proponents of the measure, will no doubt work hard on educating the public as to the benefits of such an undertaking. The package does not include the $10 million which would have helped in the construction of a tolerance center for students in Sacramento, an idea strongly supported by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. Plans for the center were dropped from the package at the last minute for fear of fueling anti-bond measure groups.
Opponents of the bill package also include area environmental groups who reject the idea of canal and dam construction throughout the delta region, as well as anti-tax organizations lobbying to keep California from falling deeper into debt.
Schwarzenegger also benefited this week from the victory of Lt. Gov. John Garamendi in a congressional election on Tuesday. Garamendi defeated Republican attorney Dave Harmer for the 10th Congressional District seat recently vacated by Ellen Tauscher. Gov. Schwarzenegger will now have a hand in appointing Garamendi's replacement, with the final decision still coming from the Senate and Assembly.
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