Republican Assemblymember Juan Alanis of Modesto has filed a constitutional amendment to dedicate 1.5% of the state’s general fund revenues to water infrastructure investments.
The measure would deposit the money each year into a trust fund and task the California Water Commission with overseeing spending. The state auditor, meanwhile, would perform annual reviews of expenditures, and agencies would expedite environmental permits for projects. It would also task the attorney general with defending the measure against any litigation from environmental groups.
Remember: GOP Asm. Devon Mathis of Visalia pitched a 2% general fund allocation in 2022. His measure proposed rigorous standards for holding the commission accountable for spending the money—a reflection of deep frustration in agricultural communities for a decade-long delay in doling out Prop. 1 water bond dollars.
Mathis’ measure would have maintained the provisions until the state added five million acre-feet of new capacity, more than Shasta Reservoir can hold. But his proposal was never heard in committee in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
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Keep in mind: The action comes amid a record deficit and with voters lukewarm to bond measures, as shown with the narrow majority voters gave Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Prop. 1 mental health bond this week.
The issue came up in a budget hearing on Wednesday, when CDFA Secretary Karen Ross offered a word of caution.
“We're all very mindful the cost of borrowing is more than it has been,” she said, as she urged lawmakers to think of a bond as “an investment in the future” and not “as a backfill for current pains.”
That said, the Association of California Water Agencies is pushing for an $8 billion water bond.
