With California facing another potential drought, legislators demanded Wednesday that a state agency release $2.7 billion in bond funding for dams, reservoirs and other water storage projects.
Assembly Republican Leader Brian Dahle, pulling a child’s red wagon, arrived at a meeting of the California Water Commission with a stack of petitions with 4,000 signatures supporting the two largest reservoir projects seeking bond money: Sites Reservoir north of Sacramento and Temperance Flat in the San Joaquin Valley. “Farmers like myself are concerned about the shortage of water – we’re seeing another drought cycle,” he told the commission.
The commission, which is in charge of doling out $2.7 billion in Proposition 1 bond money approved by voters in 2014, has come under attack in recent weeks. In January, the its staff issued a preliminary determination that the 11 projects under consideration aren’t eligible for nearly as much funding as they’d like.
Lawmakers and others accused the commission of effectively thwarting the will of the voters.
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