This legislative session may just be the magical session where a water bond measure is approved by the Legislature. Five bills have already been introduced this year to address a possible water bond to be placed on a future ballot, most likely in 2010. In addition, legislative leadership has convened a legislative working group to discuss water issues and water bonds.
CSDA’s Legislative Committee decided to create a sub-committee on the various water bonds measures in order to create an environment where these proposals could be fully vetted. The sub-committee is made up of various interested stakeholders from the Legislative Committee. The sub-committee participated in a conference call last week to begin the process of discussing what issues are important to districts in a possible water bond.
The current legislative proposals are:
- Assembly Bill 1187 by Assembly Members Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) and Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), which authorizes a total of $10.035 billion in general obligation bonds.
- Senate Bill 301 by Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter), which authorizes a total of $15 billion in general obligation bonds.
- SB 371 by Senator Dave Cogdill (R-Fresno), which authorizes a total of $9.98 billion in general obligation bonds.
- SB 456 by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Linden), which authorizes a total of $9.805 billion in general obligation bonds.
- SB 735 by President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), which authorizes a total of $9.785 billion in general obligation bonds.