Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleagues.

We have been here before. I have listened to my colleagues who are the proponents of this bill over the last 5 years. As the previous speaker said, we have gone down this path before.

There really is a solution. Unfortunately, I guess all of us, in one way or another, hang on to our past rhetoric and ignore the opportunity that really demands our attention now to develop a comprehensive, good policy for California.

There is a lot in this bill that goes in the proper direction, and it is an improvement over the past bills. There is no doubt about it.

The issue of moving forward with the projects that are necessary, that is all good, dams and other kinds of programs and the aquifer restoration. It is a good deal. However, in this bill, there are things that are very, very troublesome.

You cannot mandate by law the operations of the water systems in California or anywhere else. You cannot specify how they will be operating because you do not know on a day-to-day or a year-to-year or a month-to-month basis what is actually going to be on the ground.

So that portion of the bill that sets out those operating procedures should be removed. Goals, yes. Operating procedures, no. It just won't work.

As said by both the Federal and State governments, if you were to move this bill forward into law, you would create chaos in California. Every paragraph, every comma, every word, in California water law--both in law and in court decisions--sets the precedent, but, unfortunately, this bill overrides that.

We are very close to it. We can put this together. My colleague, Mr. Huffman, has a proposal that is comprehensive, and it ought to be integrated into our programs and it ought to be integrated into this bill. But the kind of compromise and discussion that is necessary to develop a law that actually works has not been undertaken.

I would urge my colleagues, the proponents of this bill, to slow it down, to let the State and Federal Governments continue to do what they are doing, and that is to operate this system to the maximum potential despite the fact that there is very, very little water.

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We can do this, but we have to work together. Unfortunately, that has not occurred; so I urge my colleagues, the proponents of this bill, to take the time to meet with those of us who will be the losers if this bill moves forward. We can all be winners.

I draw your attention to Mr. Huffman's legislation, which is comprehensive, which will work, and which could be integrated into this legislation.

In the meantime, I continue to oppose it.

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