SACRAMENTO, CA – Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield) released the following statement on the California Assembly’s joint Budget Subcommittee No.4 on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy, and Transportation and Water, Parks, and Wildlife oversight hearing on the sustainable groundwater management act implementation:

“I commend Assemblymembers Steve Bennett and Diane Papan for convening an oversight hearing on the state groundwater management act’s implementation,” said Senator Melissa Hurtado. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) was intended to ensure basin sustainability, but its forcing farmers out of business, displacing farmworkers, and depriving communities of water, all while enriching private investors, enabling deeper aquifer drilling, and driving up water costs. As a legislator with years of work invested in this policy space, I agree with the need to remove conflicts of interest especially as groundwater markets expand. This is why I have introduced legislation to address this issue.”

As part of Senator Hurtado’s accountability platform in the legislature, the Senator has introduced Senate Bill 1156, the Economic Disclosure for Water Agencies Act. In response to groundwater market expansions, the bill promotes transparency, addresses conflicts of interests, while ensuring accountability by requiring members of a water board’s executive and board of directors to disclose any economic or financial interests that may influence decision-making related to groundwater management.

The hearing is available for review on the website of the California State Assembly at https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/joint-hearing-budget-subcommittee-4-climate-crisis-resourcess-energy-and-transportation-and-water-parks-and-wildlife-20240221

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