SACRAMENTO, CA – Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) released the following statement today, after Governor Newsom released the details of the 2021 May Budget Revise:

“There is a lot of good in this revision proposal from the Governor—investments to house the homeless, small business grants and rebates to taxpayers to name a few.  However, the immediate concern in California is the drought and its impact on our food supply chain. Governor Newsom cannot make it rain, but made a bold $5.1 billion proposal to help California prepare and cope with this and future droughts.  In the Valley, we like to give credit where credit is due—the Governor in his May revision, proposed $200 million towards repairing the state’s water conveyance systems, but in order to build back water we need to fully fund Senate Bill 559. It is a one-time investment that will benefit 30 million people--as we all know, if the plumbing of your home is leaking, you don’t fix it halfway—you fix it until it no longer leaks, especially when the money is there to do it. To his credit, the Governor has made great strides in the budget, but the drought will have ripple effects and additional investment will help avoid a global food crisis like that in 1974.  Governor Newsom, ‘it’s time to meet the moment.’”

During this legislative session, Senator Hurtado introduced Senate Bill 559, which allocates $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 an 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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