Drought fails to compel California lawmakers to work together

Drought fails to compel California lawmakers to work together

The session that ended on Saturday had the California's lawmakers disagreeing over issues including undocumented migrants, the social safety net and measures to cope with a severe drought.

The session that ended on Saturday had the California’s lawmakers disagreeing over issues including undocumented migrants, the social safety net and measures to cope with a severe drought.

In the final hours, they approved a ban on plastic grocery bags, a measure allowing guns to be temporarily removed from potentially violent people and a campaign to finance reforms spurred by a series of ethics scandals.

The Democrats control both houses of the legislature and all statewide elective offices.

The negotiations for a plan to sell bonds to shore up the state’s water supply in the face of ongoing drought resulted in a lot of tension at the session.

California is in the third year of a devastating drought that has left reservoirs diminished and has threatened billions in crops.

However, the lawmakers were divided along geographic as well as party lines about the line of action to be followed.

The final measure included more money for reservoirs than progressives had wanted, but less than Republicans and moderate Democrats representing agricultural areas had hoped for.

The legislation which reflects the most significant changes to state water law in half a century triggered the biggest battle in the legislative session’s final hours.

Democrats acted on the measures over the strong objections of Central Valley lawmakers from both parties who represent farmers who are struggling to survive the drought by pumping an increasing amount of groundwater to irrigate their crops.

“Mark Twain famously said, ‘Whisky is for drinking and water is for fighting over.’ Certainly we have had our fair share of fights over water,” said Assemblyman Roger Dickinson.

The package of the groundwater bills came on what was effectively the last day of the Legislature’s session.

Republican Leader Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, accused Democrats of a double standard, reading from a recent letter by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg in which he said bills of great importance shouldn’t be introduced at the last minute.

But Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said the legislation was introduced early this year and amended repeatedly in both chambers. And he argued that the issue has been adequately debated in recent years.

 

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