The state of California desperately needs new dams to have an adequate water supply for the future, and if public leadership can’t seem to agree on that, it is up to private leadership to step in, which is exactly what the initiative process is for, to give the voting public the final say in important issues when public leadership is unable to respond to pressing issues.
Businesses float water bond plan
Stalled legislative efforts prod bid to qualify measure for the November ballot.
By E.J. Schultz - eschultz@fresnobee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Thursday, December 6, 2007
With legislative negotiations stalled, an alliance of business and farm groups on Wednesday began an effort to qualify an $11.7 billion water bond initiative for November's ballot.
The move sets up a potential ballot-box showdown between competing solutions to the state's water woes – a Republican-backed plan that places an emphasis on dams and a Democratic proposal that focuses on groundwater storage and conservation.
The business-backed measure is similar to the proposal Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and GOP lawmakers have pushed all year. The California Chamber of Commerce, which is leading the effort, filed the proposal Wednesday with the state attorney general's office.
"We are encouraged and hopeful that a legislative agreement can be reached and a measure placed before voters next year," Allan Zaremberg, president of the chamber, said in a statement. "In case this does not happen legislatively, we felt it necessary to file these measures today in order to preserve our options and have adequate time to gather signatures for the November ballot."
The alliance filed four versions of the initiative and will spend the next several weeks deciding which one to pursue. To qualify an initiative, the group will need to gather 433,971 valid signatures.
Up to $3.5 billion would be set aside for dams, possibly including a reservoir northeast of Fresno at Temperance Flat. Other money would go for regional water supply grants and upgrades to the deteriorating Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the pass-through point for much of the state's water supply.
