BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                             
           AJR 38
                                                                  Page  1

          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AJR 38 (Caballero, Fuller and Arambula)
          As Amended  August 16, 2010
          Majority vote
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |63-4 |(May 24, 2010)  |SENATE: |33-1 |(August 18,    |
          |           |     |                |        |     |2010)          |
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           Original Committee Reference:    W., P. & W.

          SUMMARY  :  Requests the United States Department of the Interior  
          (USDOI) to complete its study of the Two-Gates Fish Protection  
          Demonstration Project (Two-Gates Project) in the Sacramento-San  
          Joaquin Delta Estuary (Delta).

           The Senate amendments  make a minor wording change from requesting  
          USDOI prioritize completion of its Two-Gates Project study to  
          requesting USDOI complete the study as soon as possible.
          
           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Prohibits the unauthorized take of species listed as threatened  
            and endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (FESA)  
            and California Endangered Species Act (CESA).

          2)Requires the State Water Project (SWP) and federal Central  
            Valley Project (CVP), which operate in a coordinated fashion, to  
            (at certain key times) restrict the degree to which they cause  
            Old River and Middle River in the Delta to run backwards drawing  
            aquatic organisms, including threatened and endangered fish  
            species, into the South Delta and the SWP/CVP pumping plants.

           AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  , this resolution:

          1)Acknowledged that from 2007 to 2009 California experienced water  
            management challenges due to a severe drought and, to a lesser  
            extent, the need to prevent the extinction of Delta fish  
            populations protected by FESA, CESA, or both and that drought,  
            recession and other hardships contributed to the economic  
            dislocation of rural farming communities on the west side of the  
            San Joaquin Valley.  

          2)Recognized the Two-Gates Project as an experiment that proposes  







                                                                             
           AJR 38
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            to install barriers and gates across two Delta rivers with a  
            hypothesis that this would reduce the loss of Delta smelt at the  
            SWP/CVP pumps and an inference that such a reduction would allow  
            greater SWP/CVP export water deliveries.  

          3)Requested USDOI to prioritize completion of the Two-Gates  
            Project study.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Nonfiscal

           COMMENTS  :  This resolution was amended in the Senate to clarify  
          that USDOI should complete the Two-Gates Project study as soon as  
          possible.  Completing the study is a prerequisite to determining  
          whether the proposed Two-Gates Project is scientifically sound.

           Analysis Prepared by  :  Tina Cannon Leahy/Igor Lacan / W., P. & W.  
          / (916) 319-2096 
          FN: 0006168