Two flood-risk bills passed
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, September 8, 2007
The heart of a five-bill package to reduce flood risk in the Central Valley passed the Senate on Friday and was sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Senate Bill 5 would create both short-term and long-term strategies to protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.
The measure would ban development after 2015 on floodplains that lack adequate protection. More immediately, it would require flood maps to be updated by July 2008 to discourage local government from approving risky developments.
Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, and Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, jointly crafted details of SB 5, which passed the Senate by a vote of 27-8.
SB 5 and Senate Bill 17 are the only pieces of the five-bill package that have been sent thus far to Schwarzenegger, who has not said whether he will sign them.
SB 17 would reconstitute and rename the seven-member state Reclamation Board.
Key provisions call for the addition of two legislative appointees, staggered terms, Senate confirmation of all gubernatorial appointees, and for four seats to be reserved for water experts. A separate bill would make the legislative appointees non-voting members.
-- Jim Sanders, Bee Capitol Bureau
