Page 5 - Yucaipa Valley Water District - Board Workshop

constituents in his district reliant on
groundwater wells which wells went dry in the
drought – to no avail.

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed in January a
plan to spend $25 million for the “Safe and
Affordable Drinking Water Fund,” by taxing
drinking water. A bill proposing a drinking water
tax was introduced last year, but was killed
during the committee process under threat of a
veto by Gov. Jerry Brown. In 2018 Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) authored SB623 to establish a
Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund, which also received strong opposition from numerous
state agencies and coalitions. SB 623 died in the Assembly Rules Committee.

Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) also has a bill which would use money from the state’s nearly
$30 billion surplus to create a trust fund to pay for water improvements.

Taxpayer advocates and water agencies across the state oppose Newsom’s plan. Some say it
is just a blatant attempt to create another tax-revenue funding source on the back of a serious
issue – just like the state’s rundown highways and roads and the gas tax. And others have said
this tax could open the door to other new taxes on water for a variety of different programs.

“The Governor is talking about the housing crisis, and building many new homes,” Assemblyman
Mathis said in an interview in January. “In order for California to build houses, we must improve
water infrastructure. We know we need to capture water, and move it down South, and get it into
the ground.”

“But in order to do this, we have to have a guaranteed funding formula,” Mathis added. “Bonds
haven’t worked. The money is not there — it’s gone, and on what?”

“We don’t think it makes sense to tax a resource that is essential to living,” said Cindy Tuck of
the Association of California Water Agencies. “However, a statewide water tax is highly
problematic and is not necessary when alternative funding solutions exist and the state has a
huge budget surplus.”

Visit the source of this article at https://californiaglobe.com/legislature/ignoring-30m-from-water-
bonds-and-state-surplus-gov-gavin-newsom-wants-new-water-tax/

Yucaipa Valley Water District - March 26, 2019 - Page 5 of 202