August 27, 2014 - Sacramento – Senator Tom Berryhill (R- Twain Harte) issued the following statement on legislation to regulate groundwater:
“It took us more than 10 years to come up with a water bond that works for all of California. To tell the people of California “we got it covered” after one week is ridiculous and won’t work. There are more than 500 water basins, agriculture, urban areas and mountain communities in California and they all have different issues.
One size does NOT fit all. This bill was not a collaborative effort; it does not address the needs of competing interests. Assemblyman Dickenson’s legislation, while well intentioned, is an approach to water that does not take into account the needs of agriculture; it does not take into account the needs of mountain communities. Just weeks ago we passed a bipartisan water bond which proves we can all work together to do what’s best for all of California. Now we have urban legislators reverting to the old play book of big cities ignoring the needs of rural California. This is a classic case of urban legislators telling everyone else what is best. It’s just bad policy.”