Rep. LaMalfa Votes to Provide California Short-Term, Immediate Drought Relief
Washington, DC – Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) today voted in favor of legislation aimed at providing immediate, emergency relief from California's historic water crisis. H.R. 5781, the California Emergency Drought Relief Act, which would sunset in eighteen months, includes two critical components: flexibility to store additional water when winter storms cause high river flows and protections for the North State's senior and area of origin water rights.
"The state of California is going through the worst drought in over a century, creating devastating conditions for our farms, families and ranches. The measure we passed today represents a bipartisan, noncontroversial fix that simply gives federal water managers the flexibility they need to conserve excess water during the wettest months," said LaMalfa. "It's simply reckless that we continue to watch ill-conceived federal policies allow billions of gallons of water to be diverted away from our communities to just flow out to sea. It's time to bring an end to the delays and inaction coming from Washington and start moving forward towards a long-term solution that adequately addresses our state's water needs. I urge the Senate to act quickly to advance this critical measure and help prevent yet another year of damaging drought conditions for California."
The California Emergency Drought Relief Act would:
- Increase water supplies to Northern Californians who have seen their water allocations reduced to 50%, or even 0%. Under this bill, Northern Californians would receive a minimum of 75% of their water right in drought years.
- Ensure more flood flows are held at North State reservoirs rather than being diverted to the sea, resulting in more water stored during winter months.
- Enhances North State water rights and creates additional area of origin protections.
- Promotes federal water storage projects in the state by expediting the completion of needed reviews to approve water transfer requests associated with voluntary fallowing of non-permanent crops.
- Holds federal agencies accountable by utilizing a streamlined process to ensure regulatory decisions related to projects that provide additional water resources are made it a timely process.
H.R. 5781 passed out of the House of Representatives on a 230-182 vote and will be sent to the Senate.
Video of Rep. LaMalfa's comments may be found at the following link:
Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing California's First Congressional District including, Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou and Tehama Counties.
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