Calif. lawmakers attempt to delay $11B water bond

By ROBIN HINDERY

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Supporters of California's $11.1 billion water bond are scrambling to pull it from the November ballot and shelve it until 2012, when they hope the state's fiscal climate will have improved.

At the urging of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state Senate is scheduled to take up two bills on Monday that would delay the water bond vote as well as the terms of the nine members of the California Water Commission, which is tasked with allocating some of the bond funds.

The bills, AB1265 and AB1260, require a two-thirds vote and also would have to pass through the Assembly.

Schwarzenegger and supporters in the Legislature are pushing for the delay out of concern that voters will reject the bond while the state is grappling with a $19 billion budget deficit.

"It's critical that the water bond pass, as it will improve California's economic growth, environmental sustainability and water supply for future generations," the governor said in a statement in June. "For that reason, I will work with the Legislature to postpone the bond to 2012 and avoid jeopardizing its passage."

Lawmakers who oppose the bond say it is too expensive, will increase water diversions from the environmentally fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and is loaded with pork-barrel projects that have little if anything to do with improving the state's water supply. They want it to stay on the ballot in the hope that it will fail.

Lawmakers who oppose the bond say it is too expensive, will increase water diversions from the environmentally fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and is loaded with pork-barrel projects that have little if anything to do with improving the state's water supply. They want it to stay on the ballot in the hope that it will fail.

"The problem with the bond is we can't afford it, and unlike a fine wine, it's not going to get any better with age," said Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, one of the Legislature's leading experts on water. She said she planned to vote no on both measures on Monday.

The bond is intended to upgrade California's vast water system, which was built decades ago when the state's population was about half its current size of 38.5 million people. Funds would be devoted to cleaning up contaminated groundwater, boosting conservation efforts, updating sewage systems, and researching the possibility of building at least two dams sought by farming interests to increase their water supply.

In 2009, the Legislature narrowly voted to place the bond measure on this year's ballot.

The Senate has since lost two "aye" votes to vacancies, after Abel Maldonado left in April to become lieutenant governor and John Benoit resigned to become a Riverside County supervisor. Benoit was replaced in June by Sen. Bill Emmerson, a Republican who voted for the bond when he was in the Assembly, while Maldonado's seat remains vacant.

Also vacant is the seat of Republican Sen. Dave Cox, who died July 13 of prostate cancer. Cox had voted against the bond measure.

Monday is the deadline for changes to the state's official Voter Information Guide. After that, lawmakers can decide to issue a supplemental guide, but doing so would be costly.

Counties are scheduled to start printing their November ballots later this month.