Californians Need Safe Drinking Water Now
It is not often that Republicans and Democrats come together and agree on a solution to a pressing challenge facing our state. It is even rarer when industries whose perspectives are usually on the opposite end of the philosophical spectrum – like agricultural and environmental justice organizations – are on the same page. But these […]
Jerry Brown Disses the Central Valley . . . Again
Many of my Central Valley legislative colleagues are furious that the staff at Governor Jerry Brown’s Water Commission have rigged the system so the recently announced proposed funding for Temperance Flat Reservoir is just that – flat. It’s not surprising that environmentally-oriented staff at the California Water Commission (and other state agencies such as the State […]
Cap and Trade – Corporate Shell Games and Environmentalist Chest-Beating
In 2006 on virtually a party line vote, the Democrat controlled Legislature passed Assembly Bill 32, the pompous sounding “California Global Warming Solutions Act.” Then-Governor Schwarzenegger, who often commuted daily in a private jet from Los Angeles to Sacramento, signed AB 32, hypocritically stating it was “a bold new era of environmental protection.” To implement AB […]
Californians Deserve the Right to Re-Vote on High-Speed Rail
During an extraordinary session of the Legislature on transportation and infrastructure issues, I introduced bipartisan legislation along with Assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield) to allow Californians to vote again on the controversial High-Speed Rail (HSR) project. The High-Speed Rail of today is not what the voters approved in 2008. Californians deserve the right to re-vote on this […]