Story By Highland Community News
The San Bernardino County Farm Bureau board of directors has commended Assembly Member Marc Steinorth for supporting AB 91 to provide more than $1 billion to provide temporary relief from the current drought emergency and opposing part of the package of emergency drought legislation considered by the state Legislature last week.
Steinorth, R-Rancho Cucamonga, voted against Assembly Bill 92, which provides administrative civil penalty authority to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Farm Bureau believes existing judicial procedures governing water rights and complaints through the State Water Resources Control Board are sufficient and essential to ensure fair enforcement.
“The state water board has the expertise to oversee water rights,” San Bernardino County Farm Bureau President Peter Cherbak said. “Providing additional authority to a second agency to levy additional fines does not offer a solution to the drought emergency at hand.”
“Farm Bureau believes that a comprehensive solution to the drought should include delta pumps returning to full capacity as soon as possible, enabling farm laborers and transportation companies to go back to work and idled farmland to return to production,” Cherbak said. “It should also include additional water storage capacity, to capture rainwater in wet years and store it so Californians can be more prepared in drought situations, and an updated water conveyance system that is adequate to serve our growing population.”
Cherbak said Farm Bureau looks forward to working with Assembly Member Steinorth on future solutions to the drought that will allow California farmers to continue to grow a safe and abundant food supply.
The San Bernardino County Farm Bureau is a non-profit organization supporting the farmers, ranchers, and growers in our area who provide the safest and most abundant food supply in the world, along with fiber for our clothing, forestry for our homes and plant products to beautify and enrich our surroundings and our lives.
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