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Statement from Delta Community, Environment and Fishing Groups on Results of Joint Water Conference Committee Closed-Door Negotiations

September 9, 2009 -- Sacramento - Today, representatives from Restore the Delta; the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance; the California Water Impact Network; Friends of the River; Heal the Bay; Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations; the Winnemem Wintu Tribe; and the Environmental Water Caucus issued the following joint statement regarding the closed-door negotiations masquerading as Joint Water Conference Committee hearings in the California State Legislature: 
 
“Today’s release of the water bill package just reaffirms what so many of us have become accustomed to when the State Legislature rushes to solve a complex problem. 
 
“It was clear from the day Senate President Darrell Steinberg and Speaker Karen Bass appointed the members to the Water Conference committee without including a single member of the State Legislature who represents the heart of the Delta or is committed to protecting the Delta that this committee was just a façade with the sole purpose of producing a public relations ‘win’ for the legislature and the chance to help build the Schwarzenegger legacy, not necessarily to address the real water policy issues that impact all Californians. 
 
“Instead of bringing groups together to find common ground on these complex issues the California Legislature has decided to fall back into an all too familiar pattern that includes: 
 
· Making up the rules as they go along without regard to legislative deadlines. 
· Writing the legislation in the dark of night without any public input or review. 
· Proposing to abdicate their own oversight authority by allowing an unelected body of gubernatorial appointees to make key decisions regarding tens of billions of dollars on water projects, statewide water fees and management of the Delta. 
 
“We agree that water is one of the highest priority issues for our state, but it must be done right and not just right away. 
 
“The last time the Legislature rushed and put water politics over good water policy, the voters responded by overturning the Peripheral Canal via referendum in 1982. 
 
“In the face of recent surveys showing the public would still overwhelmingly reject the legislative water package should it appear before them in 2010 either directly in the form of a bond or indirectly as the result of another referendum, it is astonishing that the Legislature would continue with this charade.”