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<P class=sl-headline><A
href="http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/9817411p-10677362c.html">http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/9817411p-10677362c.html</A></P>
<P class=sl-headline>State's water under new committee </P>
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<P class=sl-subhead>Leader of Senate group wants to know 'who's using what.'
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<P class=sl-byline>By Eric Stern<BR>Bee Capitol Bureau </P><!--/STORYHEADLINE--><!--STORYBODY--><EM><FONT color=#999999><SPAN
class=sl-pubdate>(Updated Sunday, January 23, 2005, 6:23 AM)</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- BEGIN Component: FresnoBee : component/z_CodeBlue/storylevel/noinstoryad_notools_sec.comp --><!-- BEGIN Component: FresnoBee : component/z_CodeBlue/storylevel/noinstoryad_notools_ind.comp --><!-- BEGIN Component: FresnoBee : component/z_CodeBlue/storylevel/image_main.comp --></FONT></EM><!-- END Component: FresnoBee : component/z_CodeBlue/storylevel/image_main.comp --><!-- END Component: FresnoBee : component/z_CodeBlue/storylevel/noinstoryad_notools_ind.comp --><!-- END Component: FresnoBee : component/z_CodeBlue/storylevel/noinstoryad_notools_sec.comp -->
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<P class=sl-body>SACRAMENTO -- When deciding the course of state water policy,
the farm-friendly Senate Agriculture Committee has long placed irrigating crops
at the top of the priority list. </P>
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<P class=sl-body>But under a committee shake-up, the conservation-minded Senate
Natural Resources Committee now will divvy up the state's water. The move has
raised eyebrows from some farm groups. Legislative leaders say that placing
water policy decisions under the resource committee is aimed at balancing water
use across the state.</P>
<P class=sl-body>The agriculture industry "has always been sort of the primary
player when you look at water, but we did not want people to have an erroneous
perception that agriculture had a higher entitlement to water," said Sen. Sheila
Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, who is leading the hybrid resources-water committee. </P>
<P class=sl-body>Kuehl laid out her goals for the committee's work on water
issues. She's not calling for more reservoirs, a new canal to Southern
California or any desalination plants. Instead, she's more interested in finding
out "who's using what."</P>
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"I want a much more transparent ... set of information that gives us the whole
picture on water in the state and gives everyone the tools that they need to do
early planning," Kuehl said. She said spotty record-keeping has made it
difficult to understand how much water is being used by some holders of
century-old water rights. She wants to get tough on water agencies, farmers and
other users who are required to send annual reports to the state.</P>
<P class=sl-body>"If you don't file the report, we'll assume non-use," she said.
"And five years of non-use means you lose the rights."</P>
<P class=sl-body>Kuehl emphasized that agriculture needs will not be lessened.
She tapped Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, to lead a subcommittee on the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Machado, a farmer, led the old agriculture-water
committee.</P>
<P class=sl-body>"I didn't want to waste his knowledge and understanding of that
issue," she said.</P>
<P class=sl-body>Kuehl's goals also include requiring water agencies to fully
investigate how projects will affect the environment and to better determine the
costs of transporting water across the state.</P>
<P class=sl-body>She also wants water agencies to implement "cost-effective
conservation" measures to avoid wasting water.</P>
<P class=sl-body>The Assembly already bumped water policy decisions out of its
agriculture committee years ago.</P>
<P class=sl-body>A committee is the first -- and possibly last -- stop for
legislation. For example, a decade-long effort in the 1980s to post warnings to
farmworkers about chemicals sprayed in the fields kept getting killed by the
agriculture committee, said Tim Hodson, director of the Center for California
Studies at California State University, Sacramento.</P>
<P class=sl-body>It wasn't until legislative leaders gave the bill to the
natural resources committee that it passed through the Legislature, he said.</P>
<P class=sl-body>"That's the classic fate of a bill that can be determined
simply by which committee it goes to," said Hodson, a former Capitol staffer.
"An agriculture committee is going to look at the world differently than the
natural resources committee, and that can have significant influence on
policy."</P>
<P class=sl-body>The reporter can be reached at estern@modbee.com or (916)
326-5544.</P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>