AB-43: California Prepares for Ill Winds

Merced River, Photo Credit: Mike Osborne

AB-43, allowing California to backstop the national wild and scenic river system, awaits governor’s signature

There is a time and a place for everything—and apparently, the time to prepare for ill winds from the nation’s capital is now, and the place is the California Legislature, where AB-43 has just passed, positioning California to protect its rivers.

The measure, sponsored by Friends of the River and introduced late last year by freshman Assemblyman Nick Schultz (D‑Burbank), would make the provisions – soon to sunset – of 2018’s AB‑2975 (Friedman, D‑Glendale) a permanent provision of the California Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. This legislation permanently empowers the state’s Natural Resources Agency secretary to add national wild & scenic rivers in California to the state system if they are threatened by Congressional or Presidential actions.

The earlier measure had been prompted by concerns about the first Trump Administration’s commitment to the national wild & scenic river system and the three times that the U.S. House of Representatives had voted to dedesignate a portion of the Merced national wild & scenic river. Friends of the River had worked closely with Assemblymember (now Congressperson) Laura Friedman to create the 2018 legislation.

Hopefully, that can be a port to weather the storm.

AB-43 cleared the Assembly on May 29th and the State Senate on September 3rd. Now, it awaits signature or veto on the Governor’s desk.

FOR’s letter to Governor Newsom gives some more background about the bill and a list of the rivers potentially affected by the bill. For the latest on the bill’s status, check out our wild & scenic river webpage.