<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 52px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 35px; font-family: 'McClatchy Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12204">California drought and drainage bills could collide on Capitol Hill</h1><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'McClatchy Sans', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11625"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12050"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; font-family: 'McClatchy Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); display: inline-block; padding-bottom: 3px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11977"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5em; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11978"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11979">BY MICHAEL DOYLE</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5em; font-style: italic;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11980"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11981"><a href="mailto:mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11982">mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com</a></span></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; width: 33px; float: left; top: 50px; z-index: 1; margin-left: -80px; ;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11983"><div gigid="showShareBarUI" style="box-sizing: border-box; visibility: visible;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11984"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11985"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; 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border: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; width: 48px; float: none; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; background-image: url(http://static.sacbeelabs.com/v1/20160324.0/api/js/lib/ui/res/img/shareicons/square-48x48/share.png); cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; min-height: 48px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11995" title-off=""></div></div></div></div></div><div data-config-distributor-id="90482" data-config-width="100%" data-config-height="9/16w" style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11996"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11997"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; display: block; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.5; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11998">WASHINGTON </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_11999"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12000"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12001">The politics of California water is becoming three-dimensional chess in Congress as lawmakers balance competing anti-drought ideas with a proposed San Joaquin Valley irrigation drainage settlement that’s going to get bigger.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12002">In a fresh gambit, a key House subcommittee on Wednesday approved controversial California water provisions that would steer more water to farmers. Soon, some of these same farmers will be seeking additional legislation to settle a long-running drainage dispute.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12003">While the California drought and drainage proposals are distinct, they involve many of the same lawmakers, incite similar regional tensions and in the end could become entangled in each other’s fate.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12004">“A lot of dots begin to connect here,” Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said Wednesday.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12019">The initial moves involve <a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/article71446412.html" target="_blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12020">California provisions folded into</a> an 82-page bill that funds federal energy and water programs for the 2017 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives energy and water appropriations subcommittee unanimously approved the $37.4 billion package Wednesday.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12021">The California provisions modify proposals that have previously failed in Congress over the past four years. They include mandated pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and a freeze on an ambitious San Joaquin River restoration program.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12022">“It moves the ball in the right direction,” said Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “I wish it would have happened last December, (but) we’re going to take every opportunity possible.”</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12023">Valadao wrote the original House bills from which the California provisions were taken.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); margin: 40px 0px; clear: both; color: rgb(0, 147, 208); font-family: 'McClatchy Sans Cond', 'Roboto Condensed Medium', HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase; position: relative;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12024"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; line-height: 1.2; font-size: 20px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12025">THIS YEAR EL NINO STORMS HAVE BLESSED OUR STATE WITH RAIN AND SNOW. BUT THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION HAS PUMPED LESS THIS YEAR THAN LAST YEAR WHEN WE FACED HISTORIC DRY PERIODS. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'McClatchy Sans', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-transform: none; font-weight: normal; display: block; margin-top: 5px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12026">House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.</span></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12027">Northern California Democrats, including those representing parts of the Delta, oppose the familiar-sounding measures. While all but certain to pass the House, parts of the energy and water package will inevitably face resistance in the Senate and the White House.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12028">“Same old, same old,” Huffman said. “This is another highly partisan, overreaching play on the same lousy bill.”</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12029"><a href="https://huffman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/after-unprecedented-public-input-rep-jared-huffman-introduces-final" target="_blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12030">Huffman has proposed his own</a> California water bill that includes a variety of recycling grants, watershed protection programs and desalination studies. It doesn’t stand a chance in a House where Republicans command a 246-188 majority, though individual items might survive.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12031">The Senate’s version of the 2017 energy and water bill, also approved by subcommittee Wednesday, includes $100 million for assorted drought-relief programs but omits the California measures preferred by House Republicans.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12032">In theory, this conflict sets the stage for a negotiating conference where House and Senate appropriators work out their differences. Some GOP lawmakers have long believed their best shot at a California water win will come in just such a conference committee on a must-pass bill.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12033">The irrigation drainage settlement, so far, occupies a different board level in the chess game, but that could change.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12034">In January, <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article54372275.html" target="_blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12035">Valadao introduced a bill</a> to implement a settlement between the Westlands Water District and the federal government over the Bureau of Reclamation’s environmentally damaging failure to provide irrigation drainage.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12036">The bill mirrors a <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article34966890.html" target="_blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12037">legal settlement announced last September</a>, relieving the federal government of the obligation to provide drainage. In return, the 600,000-acre Westlands district will retire at least 100,000 acres of farmland and have its own remaining debt of roughly $375 million forgiven, among other changes.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12038">Three smaller San Joaquin Valley water districts, sometimes dubbed the “Northerly Districts,” have now neared an agreement on their own irrigation drainage settlement. Like the Westlands agreement, the tentative deal with the San Luis, Panoche and Pacheco water districts relieves the government of drainage responsibilities and forgives the water districts’ remaining debts.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12039">“It appears they are very close,” Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, said Wednesday.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12040">Costa noted that the boards of the districts have agreed to a proposed settlement, which would also include some $70 million in federal payments for anti-salinity efforts. The deal still needs sign-off by the federal Office of Management and Budget, which can seem sluggish and opaque to outsiders.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12041">Once final, perhaps later this spring, the Northerly Districts’ drainage settlement will also be translated into legislation, putting one more piece into play in a Congress where nothing comes easy.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; margin: 35px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12042"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12043">Michael Doyle: <a href="tel:202-383-0006" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12044">202-383-0006</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelDoyle10" target="_blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12045">@MichaelDoyle10</a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 1px; min-height: 1px; font-style: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-family: sans-serif; overflow: hidden;" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12046"><a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelDoyle10" target="_blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12047"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12048">Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article71646777.html#storylink=cpy</a></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1460647772104_12049"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>