Senate Joint Resolution No. 27

Introduced by Senator Nielsen

(Coauthor: Senator Hill)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Chu, Cooper, Dahle, Gallagher, and Patterson)

August 9, 2016

Senate Joint Resolution No. 27—Relative to the Central Valley Project Improvement Act.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SJR 27, as introduced, Nielsen. Central Valley Project Improvement Act.

This measure would urge the United States Congress to require the development of a proper conceptual foundation and framework for the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA), to require a full accounting of all CVPIA expenditures, and to require a full audit of the CVPIA Restoration Fund.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The federal Central Valley Project, first authorized
by Congress in 1935 and reauthorized in 1937, is one of the world’s
largest water storage and conveyance systems with approximately
20 dams and reservoirs and 500 miles of major canals and
aqueducts; and

WHEREAS, The federal Central Valley Project, managed by
the United States Bureau of Reclamation of the United States
Department of the Interior conveys about 20 percent of the state’s
developed water from the Sacramento, Trinity, American,
Stanislaus, and San Joaquin rivers to agricultural and municipal
water users and wildlife refuges in the Sacramento and San Joaquin
valleys and the San Francisco Bay area; and

WHEREAS, In 1992, the United States Congress enacted the
Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) to address the
specific environmental impacts of the federal Central Valley
Project, and the CVPIA identified 34 environmental goals and
projects and established the CVPIA Restoration Fund to provide
the main source of financial support for the completion of these
objectives; and

WHEREAS, The CVPIA requires water and power users,
including ratepayers from various publicly owned utilities in the
state, to pay into the CVPIA Restoration Fund, and the United
States Bureau of Reclamation and United States Fish and Wildlife
Service are the colead project managers of the CVPIA program;
and

WHEREAS, Beginning in 2007, as a part of the federal Office
of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool
process, the CVPIA program conducted two independent reviews
to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness toward meeting the
CVPIA’s environmental goals, and both reviews expressed serious
concern with the interpretation and implementation of the CVPIA;
and

WHEREAS, The first independent review published in 2008
explained that, despite more than a decade and a half of
implementation and over one billion dollars in expenditures, “the
agencies have not developed a proper conceptual foundation and
framework for the program;” and

WHEREAS, The second independent review published in 2009
concluded that the “[i]mplementing agencies have been negligent
in interpreting and implementing the co-equal environmental
mandates of the [CVPIA] through uneven application of its
authorized administrative powers”; and

WHEREAS, In 2016, over $1.5 billion has been spent on the
CVPIA, however, many of the same problems identified by the
independent reviews continue; and

WHEREAS, Among other things, the United States Bureau of
Reclamation has not adequately set programmatic milestones and
benchmarks for the CVPIA, as well as ensure transparency and
accountability; and

WHEREAS, The collection and allocation of moneys related
to the CVPIA Restoration Fund has also suffered from insufficient
oversight regarding budget decisions and disregard for the
parameters governing payment into the fund; now, therefore, be
it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the United States
Congress to require the development of a proper conceptual
foundation and framework for the CVPIA, with clear guidelines
for when each of the outstanding environmental objectives can be
deemed complete, and milestones to gauge progress; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Legislature urges Congress to require a full
accounting of all CVPIA expenditures by programmatic goal and
statutorily designated project, as well as complete transparency in
the United States Bureau of Reclamation’s planning,
implementation, and funding of the CVPIA; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature urges Congress to require a full
audit of the CVPIA Restoration Fund to ensure it is collecting
payment consistent with its enabling statute and being managed
efficiently and effectively; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and to each Senator
and Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.