| Hello Larry, We need your help to reform California’s outdated and inequitable water rights system. Three important bills are coming up for a vote next week and we need you to contact your legislator to tell them that you need them to vote YES on all three!AB 460 (Bauer Kahan) – gives the State Water Board greater enforcement power when diverters disobey orders to stop taking water. This is a result of last year’s action in the Klamath, where multiple agricultural diverters disobeyed the Board’s cease and desist order and instead chose to pay the fine and dewater the river, reducing it to a trickle. AB 1337 (Wicks) – responds to an Appellate Court decision last year that said that the State Water Board has no authority to regulate the most senior water rights holders during times of shortage. AB 1337 provides that authority. Senior water rights holders divert over a third of the water supplies used in the state; AB 1337 is needed to protect downstream communities and the environment during our increasingly severe droughts. |
| Take Action on These Two Assembly Bills Here |
| SB 389 (Allen) – would change current law, which exempts senior water rights holders from reporting their water use. The bill would require senior water rights holders to follow the same reporting process as other water rights holders and would allow the State Water Board to investigate the validity of their claims. Just as with AB 1337, the state cannot properly evaluate water usage in the state when 35% of our water use is unreported. |
| Take Action on This Senate Bill Here |
| Thank you for your support. For Clean Water, Jennifer Clary CA State Director |