SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) issued the following statement in response to today's Congressional subcommittee hearing on H.R. 1837 (Nunes), which broadly preempts state water laws, including the historic bipartisan package of water legislation passed by the California Legislature in 2009 to address the state's water crisis:
"The Legislature has spoken in a clear voice urging Congress to respect the rights of the State of California and to reject H.R. 1837. In the historic bipartisan package of water legislation we passed in 2009 to address the State's water crisis, we adopted co-equal goals for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of providing a more reliable water supply for Californians and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem. And we ensured those goals would be accomplished while respecting the agricultural, historical, natural resource and other values of the Delta and its communities and while reducing the reliance on Delta exports. We recognized that a balanced approach is not only the fundamental underpinning for any durable Delta solution, but it is the only sustainable approach. H.R. 1837 flouts those principles by prioritizing water deliveries for one region of the state over all other stakeholders and all other values.
Unfortunately, the destructive nature of H.R. 1837 does not stop there. As we pointed out in our letter to Congressman McClintock and Ranking Member Napolitano, under the pretext of ‘reforming' the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVP), H.R. 1837 sabotages the legal settlement on the San Joaquin River and includes provisions that set aside that part of the Reclamation Act preserving the state's legal ability to control, appropriate, use, or distribute irrigation water. It also totally preempts state law as applied to water operations and Endangered Species Act protections – not just for the operations of the CVP but also California's own State Water Project. This is an abuse of federal power against California's sovereign rights and an abrogation of more than 150 years of federal policy and jurisprudence."
H.R. 1837 was heard today in the Subcommittee on Water and Power of the House Natural Resources Committee. The bill will next proceed to the full committee for a vote on amendments that members want to recommend the House adopt when it considers the bill on the floor.
Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) represents the 6th Assembly District, which encompasses southern Sonoma County and all of Marin County. First elected in 2006, Huffman chairs the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee and also serves as Co-Chair of the Legislative Environmental Caucus.
CONTACT: Dan Okenfuss, (916) 319-2006, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
