Coming to a Supermarket Entrance Near You
On October 21st, the California Chamber of Commerce filed a proposed ballot measure asking California Attorney General Rob Bonta for a title and ballot summary — the latter something that can make or break an initiative’s chances. The measure is aimed at tipping the balance of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reviews in favor of expeditious approvals of “essential” projects, including “essential water projects.”
Recent political happenings have set the stage for this:
Political winds are blowing to increase California’s housing stock,
The Governor’s successful CEQA and CEQA-litigation “streamlining” in favor of the proposed Sites reservoir,
The Governor’s call for 4-million acre-feet of new water storage, and
The recent passage of a bill by the legislature charging the 5-year updates of the California Water Plan to find 9-million acre-feet of new water or storage facilities (or maybe water conservation)
Thus, the Chamber’s attorneys have created an initiative draped in soft platitudes but carefully designed to make the state’s 1970 landmark environmental law work to create easy approval pathways for projects deemed essential by the creators of the initiative.
Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, nearly any water project is deemed essential if it involves, directly or indirectly, a public water system, which is where the vast majority of California’s water is delivered:
“Essential water project” means any project or action to repair, replace, improve, or augment any of the following: (i) a “public water system” as defined by subdivision (h) of Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code; (ii) a system that directly or indirectly provides water to a public water system; or (iii) a system which is generally described and within the scope of the State’s Water Resilience Portfolio.
Finally, no doubt hoping to gain Governor Newsom’s support for the proposed ballot measure, “essential” projects also include systems described in the generally broad outlines of the Governor’s 2020 Water Resilience Portfolio — and perhaps its progress reports and potential updates.
The speculation in the Capitol building (known by the cognoscenti as “the Building”) is that the Chamber intends to circulate this ballot initiative for voter signatures, ask the legislature to put it on the ballot, and try to move pieces of the proposed ballot measure through the legislature in individual bills.
The California Chamber of Commerce is a powerful player in state politics and inside the Capitol building and no doubt can afford the effort to gather enough signatures to place the measure on the next general election ballot. However, voters should hear about problems that the measure would impose on cherished California landscapes and rivers before they bump into the eager salesmen and saleswomen with clipboards in front of supermarkets searching for signatures.
Friends of California’s rivers and the State’s key environmental disclosure law will have to be busy in 2026. Stay tuned.
