If the Legislature was waiting for the pressure of a deadline to spark some action on heavyweight issues like water, prison reform and energy policy, now’s the time.
On the last day of the 2009 legislative session, it’s agree now or hold your peace for another year.
For weeks, legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have been talking about the desperate need for action on some of California’s most important problems. The governor even vowed this week not to sign any bills, telling the Legislature it “must act on the major issues facing our state” before considering any other issues.
That threat hasn’t stopped the Legislature from passing the usual session-end flood of bills, but it did focus attention on some of the major points of concern for the governor.
But acting on a bill is one thing, while actually passing it can be something else altogether.
Take the package of water bills designed to ensure the health of the Delta, provide a safe and steady water supply for the entire state and deal with environmental concerns. After weeks of hearings and negotiations, a bipartisan conference committee agreed on language for the bills Wednesday. That’s action.
But it passed out of the conference committee without a single Republican vote and at least some GOP support is going to be needed to put a bond measure on the ballot that would pay for any upgrades to the state water system.
Going into today’s final day of the session, Democrats had yet to unveil their promised financing plan, largely because there’s a serious lack of agreement about what should be financed.
Republican legislators and the governor insist that any package include money for dams and water storage, which could mean a $12.4 billion general obligation bond.
Democrats don’t like dams, prefer more water conservation and want to pay for everything with a smaller bond and fees on water users.
Democrats like Sacramento state Sen. Darrell Steinberg say the five-bill water package is as good as it’s likely to get and represents the best chance to get started on desperately needed improvements to both the Delta and the state’s water system.
Republicans like state Sen. Dave Cogdill of Modesto, however, argue that the current plan ignore the need for a reliable water supply, i.e., dams and reservoirs, “and only caters to the interests of extreme environmentalists.”
Meanwhile, the governor says he won’t sign any bill that doesn’t include a plan to finance the package, including dams and water storage.
While Democrats could pass the package of water policy bills on a straight party line vote, there are a couple of problems with that.
First, there are a bunch of Democrats who aren’t all that enthused about the water bills. State Sen. Lois Wolk, whose district includes most of the Delta, pulled her name off one of the bills Wednesday, complaining that the package is becoming “a tool to assist water exporters who are primarily responsible for the Delta’s decline.”
Secondly, a water package that doesn’t include the money to make it happen is little more than a wish list or discussion starter and the state’s water wars have had way too many of those over the years. Steinberg already has said he won’t bring the bills up for a vote without a financial package, which means he has to find some Republican support.
It’s impossible to know how much of that hot talk and arm waving is political posturing and how much represents deeply held beliefs that will stall any agreement. Going by the past, however, both sides are likely holding tight up to the deadline, hoping that one side will sweeten the deal.
That deadline, however, is now, which means someone’s got to blink if the water deal – and other major agreements – is going to get done this year.
John Wildermuth is a longtime writer on California politics.