Politics
New California water measures aim to increase fines for violators, protect wetlands
Under California law, anyone caught diverting water in violation of a state order has long been subject to only minimal fines. State legislators have now decided to crack down on violators under a newly approved bill that sharply increases penalties.
Assembly Bill 460 was passed by the Legislature last week and is among the water-related measures awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. Other bills that were approved aim to protect the state’s wetlands and add new safeguards for the water supplies of rural communities.
Supporters say increasing fines for violations will help the State Water Resources Control Board more effectively enforce its orders to curtail water use when necessary.
“It helps the water board enforce the laws that they have on the books,” said Analise Rivero, associate director of policy for the group California Trout, which co-sponsored the bill.
The bill, which was introduced by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), is intended to prevent the sort of violations that occurred in 2022 in the Shasta River watershed, when farmers and ranchers who belong to the Shasta River Water Assn. defied a curtailment order for eight days and diverted more than half the river’s flow, flouting requirements aimed at protecting salmon.
Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science.
The state water board fined the association the maximum amount for the violation: $4,000, which worked out to about $50 for each of its members. Those small fines didn’t deter farmers and ranchers from reducing the river’s flow to a point that threatened salmon and affected the supplies of downstream water users.
The case in Siskiyou County led to widespread calls for larger fines and stronger enforcement powers.
The legislation increases fines for violations of state water curtailment to as much as $10,000 per day, plus $2,500 for each acre-foot of water diverted. (An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, or enough to cover one acre a foot deep.)
“This bill closes that loophole and makes the existing law stronger, and it’s an important step in disincentivizing water theft,” Rivero said.
Rivero said being able to impose larger fines is important as California grapples with the effects of climate change on water supplies.
Leaders of a coalition of environmental groups urged Newsom to sign the bill. In a letter, they said enforcing harsher penalties for violators is crucial for the state water board to “fulfill its mission of protecting fish, water, and people.”
Bauer-Kahan said that for too long, breaking the law and paying the fines have been seen as the cost of doing business by some illegal water diverters.
“Although we did not go far enough in ensuring that our water rights system functions in times of scarcity, we did take an important step,” Bauer-Kahan said.
The legislation raises penalties to “better hold those who steal water accountable,” she said. “Water is a precious resource, and we must do everything possible to ensure its protection.”
Proponents of the bill made some sacrifices to secure sufficient support in the Legislature, dropping a provision that would have given the state water board authority to act faster in emergencies to prevent “irreparable injury” to streams, fish or other water users.
The result was a relatively modest reform, but one that serves an important purpose, said Cody Phillips, staff attorney for the group California Coastkeeper Alliance.
“Being able to get the California Legislature to agree to increase fines in water is a major deal for the practical consequences of preventing water theft, but also to show that we can change these important details about our water rights system, and the sky doesn’t fall,” Phillips said.
Other proposals have recently encountered strong opposition from agricultural groups and water agencies.
Phillips and other environmental advocates supported another bill, AB 1337, which sought to clarify the state water board’s authority to issue curtailment orders for all diverters, including senior rights holders that use a large portion of the state’s water. But that bill didn’t secure enough support to pass this year in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee.
“Water is often referred to as the third rail in California politics, and we’ve seen that any changes, even modest changes, like 460 and frankly 1337, are met with ferocious pushback,” Phillips said. “But we can’t avoid these issues — climate change, overallocation, they’ve all led to a system where the way that we deal with water just doesn’t work.”
Some legal experts said the bill is a step in the right direction.
“We know that water is the single most important resource in the state, and yet we do not have a clear understanding of who uses it, where, and when, and we do not have a robust system for correcting unlawful use,” said Jennifer Harder, a professor at University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law.
Harder said the state needs to continue improving collection of water use data and should adopt measures to improve oversight of water rights. She said she is optimistic that “local water suppliers will come to understand that state-level standards can support and enhance local management.”
One of the other water-related measures passed by the Legislature included a bill intended to protect California’s wetlands after the rollback of federal protections under a Supreme Court decision last year. The court’s ruling in Sackett vs. EPA rewrote the federal definition of wetlands and removed federal protections for many streams that do not flow year-round, leaving ephemeral streams vulnerable to development and pollution.
If signed by Newsom, the bill, AB 2875, will codify an executive order that then-Gov. Pete Wilson issued in 1993 establishing a state policy of “no net loss” of wetlands and calling for a long-term increase in the acreage of wetlands. Despite that policy, the state has continued to lose more wetland acres to development during the last three decades.
“We have wetlands that only flow certain times of year, and they are seasonal, ephemeral streams that were stripped of protections, and yet they are really, really important biologically and for habitat,” said Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), who introduced the legislation.
Wetlands and a riparian forest are sustained by groundwater at the National Audubon Society’s Kern River Preserve.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Friedman and other supporters of the measure have stressed that because more than 90% of California’s original wetlands have already been drained and destroyed, strong protections for those that remain are vital. They say since the Supreme Court has scaled back the Clean Water Act’s federal protections for wetlands, the state will need to play a bigger role.
“We care about our state’s natural resources here in California, and it’s a shame that we right now have a Supreme Court that doesn’t seem to be very concerned about the kind of destruction that we’re seeing to our environment,” Friedman said. “It falls on states to really play whack-a-mole and catch up, because we have relied for a long time on existing, long-standing federal regulations.”
Scientists have documented major declines in North American bird populations since the 1970s, and they cite causes including the loss of habitats and warmer, drier conditions driven by climate change, among other factors.
The bill was sponsored by leaders of Audubon California, who called the measure an important step toward protecting wetland habitats that birds need to survive.
The bill doesn’t create a new regulatory framework but does make “a strong statement that California will protect and add wetlands,” said Mike Lynes, Audubon California’s director of public policy. “We’ve already lost so much of our natural wetland habitat. We’ve seen a decline in biodiversity, and there’s a ton of benefits by creating wetlands, not only for ecosystems, but also for flood control and for recreational opportunities, whether it’s birding, hunting, just hiking out in wetland areas.”
Another bill that was approved, AB 828, is aimed at improving safeguards for managed wetlands that are sustained by groundwater pumping, as well as rural communities that depend on wells. The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael), would allow these managed wetlands and small communities to temporarily continue to pump amounts of water in line with historical averages without facing mandatory reductions or fees imposed by local agencies under the state’s groundwater law.
Supporters said they proposed the change after several local agencies proposed groundwater allocations that would excessively limit supplies for communities or wildlife areas while also limiting pumping by agricultural landowners who are the largest water users.
“It sets a pause on pumping restrictions for small community water systems and managed wetlands, and on some fees, until those issues and their needs are considered,” Lynes said.
Some communities in the Central Valley have faced unworkable requirements to cut water use dramatically and start paying high fees for exceeding those limits, said Jennifer Clary, state director for the group Clean Water Action.
“We wanted a long-term exemption, but there was a lot of concern in the Legislature about that,” Clary said.
Politics
Senate GOP campaign chair 'concerned' over fundraising disparity but predicts who will win majority
EXCLUSIVE – LAS VEGAS – Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, the chair of the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee, is making his pitch to top dollar donors and influential conservative activists in order to remedy the cash disparity between GOP campaigns and those of Democrats.
“We need your help to close the fundraising gap,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair emphasized as he addressed the crowd at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting. “We have the right candidates. Let’s get them the resources they need to win.”
Minutes earlier, in an interview with Fox News Digital, Daines pointed to the GOP’s fundraising gap as compared to the Democrats as Republicans aim to win back the Senate majority and acknowledged, “it’s a concern of mine.”
“There are winnable races right now that we may not be able to bring across the finish line because of lack of resources. We are literally two months away from the most consequential election of my lifetime,” Daines emphasized. “That’s why we’re working very, very hard to make sure we’re ringing that alarm bell to get to donors.”
REPUBLICAN AIMING TO FLIP DEMOCRAT HELD SENATE SEAT IN RED STATE MAKING GAINS
Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, speaks on Sept. 5, 2024 in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Democrats have outraised and outspent their Republican counterparts in the 2024 battle for the Senate majority, and looking forward, they have dished out more money for ad reservations for the final two months leading up to Election Day on Nov. 5.
Senate Democrats and outside groups supporting them have made significantly larger post-Labor Day ad reservations in four of the seven key Senate battlegrounds, per AdImpact. In Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona each, Democratic ad reservation spending is at least double that of their respective Republican opponents, presenting a stark obstacle for GOP candidates, some of whom already face name recognition issues and the hurdle of taking on an incumbent.
HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS 2024 ELECTION POLLS
Overall, Democrats have an advantage over their Republican Senate foes with nearly $348 million in planned spending in pivotal races across the country ahead of election day, compared to Republicans’ over $255 million.
The relatively small GOP expenditures in Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona appear to be a result of massive prioritized pro-Republican Senate buys in Montana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Republicans are managing to outspend Democrats in these states, but their opponents have still boasted similarly large planned spending. In Ohio, while Republicans had $81.9 million reserved, Democratic future spending wasn’t far behind at $78.3 million, according to AdImpact.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Detroit on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fueling the financial disparity, the surge in Democratic Party enthusiasm and fundraising in the month and a half since Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Biden at the top of the party’s 2024 ticket in the White House race against former President Donald Trump.
“You just saw in the last 48 hours Kamala Harris announce she’s directing $25 million of her presidential campaign dollars down-ballot including $10 million for Senate Democrats,” Daines spotlighted. “There’s not many things Kamala Harris does well but one thing she does well is raise money. So this does have us concerned.”
However, Daines said there is a silver lining when it comes to Harris replacing the 81-year-old Biden in the White House race.
SENATE DEMOCRATS CAMPAIGN CHAIR GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH FOX NEWS
“What it does is it helps us take the age issue off the table because that was one of the reasons that Biden did so poorly. It was more about his age than anything else,” Daines said. “This now gets us laser focused on policy. This is going to be a policy contrast election….For the first time in decades, we have the results of two different administrations to run against – President Trump’s four years and Kamala Harris’ four years. Two very different administrations – very different outcomes. That contrast, we think will be very helpful for us in the key Senate races.”
Democrats control the Senate by a razor-thin 51-49 margin, and Republicans are looking at a favorable election map this year with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at 1st Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)
One of those seats is in West Virginia, a deep red state that Trump carried by nearly 40 points in 2020. With moderate Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Manchin, a former governor, not seeking re-election, flipping the seat is nearly a sure thing for the GOP.
Additionally, in Daines’ home state of Montana and in Ohio, two states Trump comfortably carried four years ago, Republicans are aiming to defeat Democratic Sens. Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown.
Five more Democratic-held seats are up for grabs this year in crucial presidential-election battleground states.
With Democrats trying to protect their fragile Senate majority, former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan of blue-state Maryland’s late entry into the Senate race in February gave them an unexpected headache in a state previously considered safe territory. Hogan left the governor’s office at the beginning of 2023 with very positive approval and favorable ratings.
Daines, for the first time, definitely said his party would recapture the majority.
“We will win the Senate majority” Daines told Fox News.
“Fifty-one is the number that we want to get to. Clearly, there’s an opportunity to get beyond that, but 51 is the number we’ve got to get to,” he stressed.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Politics
Trump suggests he could win 50% of Jewish vote in presidential election showdown against Harris
LAS VEGAS, NV – Former President Trump suggested that he could win up to half of the Jewish vote in the 2024 election as he criticized Jewish Americans who don’t support him in his showdown with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We’re probably around the 50 percent mark,” Trump said on Thursday in live-streamed comments as he addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.
And the former president and GOP nominee claimed, without evidence, that Israel “will no longer exist” if Harris wins the White House in November’s election.
Trump addressed the group of Republican Jewish leaders, donors, and activists, days after the bodies of six Israeli hostages, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were recovered in Gaza. The hostages were taken by Hamas last October during an attack on Israel that ignited the eleven-month-long war in Gaza.
TRUMP AND HARRIS ON COLLISION COURSE AS 2024 CAMPAIGN ENTERS FINAL STRETCH
Former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, gives live-streamed comments to the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting, in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sept. 5, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
The Harris campaign, responding to Trump’s address, pointed to the former president’s past criticism of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu for congratulating Biden on his 2020 election victory over Trump.
“Donald Trump has made it obvious he would turn on Israel in a moment if it suited his personal interests, and in fact he has done so in the past,” Harris national security spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein wrote in a statement. “Meanwhile, the Vice President has been incredibly clear: She has been a lifelong supporter of the State of Israel as a secure, democratic homeland for the Jewish people.”
ELECTION SEASON STARTS A LOT EARLIER THAN YOU THINK
While supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself, President Biden’s relationship with Netanyahu has grown increasingly strained during the current war. On Monday, the president said he didn’t think the Israeli leader was doing enough to help foster a hostage deal with Hamas.
The vice president has aimed to balance her support for Israel – which she spotlighted last month during her address at the Democratic National Convention – with her acknowledgment of the high civilian death toll caused by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. While Republicans are unified in support of Israel, many progressives in the Democratic Party have been vocal in their criticism of Israel’s war with Hamas.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Trump, who has repeatedly questioned how Jewish Americans could vote for the Democrats, reiterated “I don’t understand how anybody can support them — and I say it constantly — if you had them to support and you were Jewish, you have to have your head examined.”
“Who are the 50 percent of Jewish people that are voting for these people that hate Israel and don’t like the Jewish people?” Trump asked as he once again charged that the Democrats “have been very bad to you.”
NEW FOX NEWS POLL NUMBERS IN 4 KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES
Ari Fleischer, a Republican Jewish Coalition board member, spotlighted the rising Jewish support for GOP presidential candidates as he spoke with reporters following Trump’s speech.
Fleischer, a longtime Republican strategist, former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor, said that former President George H.W. Bush won 11% of the Jewish vote in 1992, but that his boss, former President George W. Bush, won 25% of the Jewish vote in his 2004 re-election. Trump won approximately 30% of the Jewish vote four years ago.
GOP presidential nominee former President Trump, takes aim at Vice President Kamala Harris as he speaks in a livestreamed address to the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting, on Sept. 5, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Fleischer wouldn’t predict what percentage of the Jewish vote Trump would capture this year, but said it could near 50% in some battleground states, as they consider casting Republican ballots.
“The ears of the Jewish community are open this cycle more than previously, because of the events around the world and what we see in America,” Fleischer said. “It’s one thing for it to be theoretical, it’s now physical. It’s palpable on the American street.”
He added that “what’s changed in this cycle is this palpable sense of fear because of what’s happening in America, because of what’s happening on campuses, because of what happened in Israel on October 7, and every day since…the American Jewry has never had their ears more open to potentially voting Republican than in this cycle.”
Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks told reporters that the group’s political arm has beefed up its data operations by building what he touted as “the only real viable voter file of Jewish voters in the country” to turnout the vote.
“We have quietly been building under the radar over the last several years. We have been putting staff and deploying resources,” Brooks shared. “So we now have staff in Nevada, we have paid staff in Georgia, we have paid staff in Michigan, we have paid staff in Pennsylvania and in Arizona. And we have been doing this quietly since the last election, building up to this moment.”
Brooks said the group is spending millions of dollars on digital and TV ads, direct mail, phone calls and door knocking and other canvassing efforts to get out the vote – what he described as “the whole gamut.”
Miriam Adelson, the billionaire GOP donor, speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting, in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sept. 5, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Trump was introduced at the gathering by Miriam Adelson, the billionaire Republican megadonor, who along with her late husband, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson were major backers of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Adelson, who is currently helping bankroll a super PAC that supports Trump, called him “our best friend” and added that she’s “eagerly awaiting for him to enter the White House and to save the Jewish people.”
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Former President Trump is scheduled to return to California next week for a pair of high-dollar fundraisers, one notably hosted by relatives of the wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to invitations obtained by The Times.
On Sept. 13, donors are being asked to pony up as much as $500,000 per couple for an afternoon fundraiser in Woodside hosted by Tom and Stacey Siebel. Tom Siebel, a billionaire software developer and businessman who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump’s 2024 campaign, is a second cousin once removed of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the Democratic governor’s wife.
Newsom’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Siebel Newsom’s family has a well-reported history of Republican activism, including by her father, Ken Siebel. But after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose presidential bid Ken Siebel supported financially, misstated the motivation for Siebel and his wife moving to Florida during a debate with the governor, the first partner’s father described DeSantis as a “lying slimeball,” according to the Daily Mail.
Trump will also headline an evening fundraiser in Los Angeles on Sept. 12, with top tickets going for $250,000 per person. The location and hosts have not been revealed.
The gatherings take place at a critical moment in the campaign, in the window between the first debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, on Tuesday, and Sept. 18, when Trump is scheduled to be sentenced for his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that could have affected his 2016 bid.
Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Ohio‘s Sen. JD Vance, will raise money in Los Angeles on Sunday, as Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff did on Thursday. Several Italian Americans, including Hollywood stars, will host a virtual dinner fundraiser for Harris on Sunday. Among the participants of “Paisans for Kamala” are actors Steve Buscemi, Alyssa Milano, Lorraine Bracco, Marisa Tomei and John Turturro, as well as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The amount of attention being showered on Californians in the waning weeks of the presidential campaign is due to its outsized role in fueling campaigns of both parties. Despite the state’s cobalt-blue tilt, it is home to an enormous number of Republican as well as Democratic donors and is typically among the largest sources of donations to candidates of both parties.
As of Aug. 8, Harris had raised $65.5 million for her presidential campaign from Californians, more than any other state’s residents had donated, according to Federal Election Commission fundraising disclosures of donors who contributed more than $200 to a candidate committee.
Trump had raised $24.8 million from California donors, the second-most from any state. (These figures reflect donations to the candidates’ committees, not to outside groups or independent expenditure committees.)
How to Watch: Washington Commanders at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Wisconsin Weekend in a Minute: Packers watch parties, Oktoberfest, TosaFest, Fiesta Selena, Kite Fest and more
ESPN+ Broadcast Team Announced for West Virginia vs. Albany
The future of Wyoming voting
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/QR5DZHHDX2YU6PQHOKHHFP67GQ.jpg "Police warn about cryptocurrency scam")
Police warn about cryptocurrency scam
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
At least 2 dead as tornadoes hit Alabama, damage homes across Southeast
Senate GOP campaign chair 'concerned' over fundraising disparity but predicts who will win majority
Italy's Commissioner pick Fitto might face a rocky road to approval
Father of Georgia school shooting suspect charged and Hunter Biden pleads guilty: Morning Rundown
Trump suggests he could win 50% of Jewish vote in presidential election showdown against Harris
The Take: Is the UK’s arms suspension on Israel a meaningful shift?
-
World1 week agoSwiss court convicts two executives of embezzling $1.8bn from 1MDB
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoSlingshot (2024) – Movie Review
-
World1 week agoCommission mandarin flags convergence of digital with industry
-
News1 week agoAfter months on the run, a murder suspect falls through the ceiling and into custody
-
World1 week agoRussia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 915
-
News1 week agoTrump Vs Harris: The Battle Over Hot Mics Heats Up Ahead Of Key Debate
-
News1 week agoThe rise of the Pumpkin Spice Latte : It's Been a Minute
-
World1 week agoEconomic portfolios are key in talks to chose new EU commissioners