Governor Applauds Historic Water Package

Lawmakers, Stakeholders Thanked for Three-Year Effort

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today hailed the comprehensive water package passed by the Legislature as the most significant water legislation in the state’s history. At a press event at the Capitol, the governor thanked legislative leaders and stakeholders for efforts over the past three years to craft a bipartisan package to meet the state’s water and ecosystem needs into the future.

“The people of California can be very proud of their legislators today,” Schwarzenegger said. “This package represents bold vision, but it can only become reality when the voters approve it. The people have been great partners with us in the past, and I know they will be with us again.”

ACWA participated in the event, along with legislators, administration officials and representatives of environmental, business and agricultural groups that have worked on the water bond measure since 2006.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg thanked the governor and leaders on both sides of the aisle for their tenacity and long hours spent on water. “None of this was easy. If it was easy, it would have been done a long time ago,” he said. “We showed that we can take the biggest, most unsolvable problem in California and actually do something to solve it,” Steinberg said.

Steinberg also noted that infrastructure investments funded by the water bond would help create jobs in a way that directly improves the state’s water supply reliability.

Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth said future generations would look back on the package and be grateful the investments were made. “This is truly a comprehensive package that has taken decades to get to this point of resolution,” he said.

Sen. Dave Cogdill said passage of the package marked the best day of his career in the Legislature. He credited the governor for achieving “something none of his predecessors had been able to do” and said the package will help “reverse the tide that has forced farmers to fallow crops.”

Cogdill also praised lawmakers for putting aside partisan differences to achieve solutions that benefit the entire state. The $11.14 billion water bond authored by Cogdill and Assembly Member Anna Caballero includes substantial funding for ecosystem restoration, surface and groundwater storage and local resources development.

Caballero thanked Assembly Speaker Karen Bass for making water a priority, and credited Republican leaders for not giving up when it seemed the package would fall apart.

ACWA Executive Director Timothy Quinn said the package “moves California from the extraction policies of the past to the sustainability policies of the future to protect the environment and the economy. This accomplishment is worth celebrating, but now the hard work begins. ACWA is committed to work with members to implement the co-equal goals of environmental restoration and water supply reliability.”

###