SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) announced she will be continuing her “Food and Water Resiliency Tour” as drought conditions in California worsen.

“California’s drought situation is dire, and is one that has the potential to create food shortages across the globe,” said Senator Hurtado. “As our climate continues to change, we will experience water and food shortages more frequently. This is already a harsh reality for my district, and now increasingly more Californians. Water means food, health, science and above all else--it means life. I believe that California will be the leader in water and food innovation, which is why I’m embarking on this food and water resiliency tour. I'd like to learn from Californians, to build awareness and encourage the solutions of the future. I look forward to discussions with community members and leaders surrounding state water resiliency, how to prevent future drought, and what preventative actions we can take against a food crisis."

Raising awareness of the drought impacts communities in her district are facing, Senator Hurtado kicked off her tour with a stop at a farmworkers roundtable in Kern County on June 16th. During the farmworkers round table, she met with local workers in the grape industry and discussed the drought impacts on overtime pay, and universal basic income. She also stopped in Kern County, where approximately 300,000 boxes of varietal grapes would have been grown, and four hundred people would have been employed--but due to drought was fallowed. Her next stop will be to attend a tour with Western United Dairies on June 18th in Tulare County. After that, she will meet with federal, state and local leaders to discuss the impacts of the drought. On June 21 she will hold a virtual press conference with the local leaders of cities and towns to tell their stories about water loss.  She plans to end her tour in Southern California where she hopes to have a robust discussion surrounding water. Please note that the dates, and locations are subject to change and meetings will be closed to press unless otherwise noted.

Two weeks ago, the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced that water reservoirs across California were at 66 percent of average, and that snowpack was 0 percent of average for this time in June.  A report using United States Drought Monitor data shows that more than 25 percent of California is in the worst drought category—and three quarters of the state are in the second-worst drought categories. This leaves an estimated 37,253,956 people living in a drought area in California. Comparisons in a DWR accumulated runoff report at shows that the full natural flow of select California rivers is worse in most areas than it was in the 2014 and 2015 droughts. The reports show that California is in the most severe drought in four years.
 

This legislative session, Senator Hurtado has introduced Senate Bill 559--the State Water Resiliency Act of 2021. Senate Bill 559 will allocate $785 million to repairing vital water delivery systems that provide drinking water to communities throughout California and water to sustain the state’s leading agricultural economy. The funds would go to fixing the Friant-Kern Canal, the Delta-Mendota Canal and major portions of the California Aqueduct, all of which have degraded and are losing water as a result of subsidence – the actual shrinking of land.

The Senator is also a co-author of the Water Innovation Act of 2021, which will create the Office of Water Innovation at the California Water Commission-furthering new technologies and other approaches within the water sector. The Senator has also introduced Senate Bill 464, which will expand the eligibility for state funded food benefits to undocumented immigrants, ensuring all residents can access food assistance. Senator Hurtado’s SB 108, which will declare it to be state policy that all people have access to sufficient, healthy food.

Media Contact: Michelle.Sherwood@sen.ca.gov

About Senator Melissa Hurtado

Senator Melissa Hurtado represents a new generation of Latina leaders as the youngest woman ever elected to the California State Senate and a product of immigrant parents. Senator Hurtado represents the 14th Senate District and focuses on rural community issues that often go unheard — access to clean air and water, food insecurity and poverty, inequities in environmental policies, agriculture and access to health care. In July 2020, she was appointed to the national Biden Latino Leadership Committee alongside former Labor Secretary and current Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis – the only two California Latinas on the Committee.

For more information, visit Senator Hurtado’s Website here or find her on Twitter at @Senator_Hurtado

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