By David Guy and Ivy Brittain
As the Legislature reconvenes next week after its summer recess, legislators will be looking to the Governor to signal whether a potential climate/water bond is a priority for 2024—either the March Primary or the November General Election. The Northern California Water Association supports a legislative bond that prepares California for weather whiplash and will improve the ecosystem function in the Sacramento Valley in a way that will provide landscape-scale habitat benefits for fish, bird, and wildlife populations while we preserve, sustain, and promote working agricultural landscapes and our vibrant communities. A functional Sacramento Valley depends on healthy rivers and landscapes from ridgetop to river mouth. Our collective goal is to bring our natural and working landscapes in this region to life through the careful interaction of water, sun, and land. A legislative bond is a very attractive way to fund this broad portfolio of actions and bonds generally serve an important unifying function throughout the water community.
The Legislature, at the Governor’s direction, has been working on a climate resiliency bond to make whole the $54.3 billion that was initially proposed in the 2021-22 state budgets for climate projects. Due to a budget deficit this year, the 2023 state budget fell 5% short of that funding with a $2.9 billion reduction from climate change programs. To help address this shortfall, there are currently four legislative bond proposals making their way through the legislature: AB 305 (Villapudua), AB 1567 (Garcia), SB 638 (Eggman) and SB 867 (Allen). SB 867 and SB 638 so far have garnered the most attention and could merge into one vehicle during negotiations amongst legislators and stakeholders. If Governor Newsom expresses a desire for the legislative bond proposal to be placed on the March 2024 ballot, the legislation will need to be passed and signed by the Governor before the end of this year’s legislative session on September 14.
NCWA, working with our leadership and many partners, has developed and articulated our priorities for a legislative bond as shown below and we will continue to engage both the Legislature and Administration on a climate bond as the discussions continue. We would welcome any thoughts or ideas on our priorities for the region at info@norcalwater.org.
Please click below for the full description of NCWA’s priorities for a legislative bond
