California Water Views

On January 10, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom announced his $297 billion budget proposal for 2023-2024, which includes a $22.5 billion budget deficit. Despite environmental/climate change programs facing $6 billion in cuts, Governor Newsom’s proposed budget includes relatively few negative impacts to water projects. In fact, the drought response and water resilience section, which includes the vast majority of water-related funding, only faces a cut of two percent, from $8.7 billion to $8.6 billion. That two percent reduction is the lowest of any environmental category. ...  

On December 6, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a bipartisan vote of 350-80. The NDAA includes the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022, which includes nearly $38 billion in funding for the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). (The text of the WRDA begins on page 3160 of the NDAA.) The WRDA is biennial legislation that provides the Corps with funding to address navigation, flood control, and ecosystem restoration. This year’s bill authorizes projects in all 50 states. On the same day, a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives announced that they reached an agreement on the WRDA. On December 15, 2022, the Senate passed the NDAA. … 

Paul Weiland recently participated in the 2020 California Water Law Symposium, held at San Francisco's Golden Gate University School of Law. The theme of this year's Symposium was "Federalism & Water: Shifts in State/Federal Roles and Relations." Paul's panel, organized by Stanford University, was entitled "Promises and Challenges of Western Dam Removals: Lessons from the Lower Klamath Project.” The proposed Lower Klamath Project involves the planned removal of four dams on the Klamath River. The panelists explored the federal, state, local, tribal, industry and civil ...