McCarthy: Use high-speed rail funds to quench California’s drought

November 5, 2015 By Curtis Tate 2 Comments

As reported by the Sacramento Bee:

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a persistent critic of California’s high-speed rail program, said that the funds for the project should be diverted to quench the state’s severe drought.

The California Republican made the proposal Wednesday after the Los Angeles Times reported that the system’s contractor pegged the cost of building the initial segment at 31 percent above the original estimate, but the California High Speed Rail Authority did not use that figure in its 2014 business plan.

The authority took issue with the newspaper’s report, saying that some costs in the $68 billion project have actually come down as bids have gone out.

That didn’t stop McCarthy from pitching a proposal that isn’t likely to happen.

Click here to read the full article

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: , , ,

Is CA ready for El Niño.

October 25, 2015 By Kevin McCarthy 4 Comments

CA RainThe anticipation is building. Stories and news reports are popping up everywhere. Predictions and expectations fill coffee shops and social media. No, I’m not talking about the 2024 Olympics in Los Angeles. I am talking about El Niño. And, chances are that it will arrive this winter along with plenty of precipitation.

The winter months in California provide us with the rain and snow to support our way life for the whole year. As the eighth largest economy in the world, the most productive agricultural region in the country, and home to the technological revolution and millions of middle class families looking to live a free and prosperous life, California needs a secure and abundant water supply.

Unfortunately, four years of historic drought and decades of mismanaged water policy have threatened our water supply so much that communities are forced to ration usage. Some even have to rely on donated water because their supplies have been completely depleted. And beyond the humanitarian and economic hardship this drought has caused, our environment has also been impacted. Today, our soil is dry and our forests are thinned by the twin problems of fire and drought.

So it isn’t a surprise that predictions of El Niño were initially met with the hope that our drought might finally subside.

And with good reason.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts the current El Niño in the Pacific Ocean has a 95 percent chance of continuing through the 2015–2016 winter. NOAA goes on to state that this could be a strong El Niño, bringing heavy and much-need precipitation to our parched state in northern, central, and southern California.

Originally published at Medium. To read the rest of the article go here.

 is the Majority Leader, United States Congress

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , , ,

Californians Pay To Have Their Lawns Spray Painted Green

May 22, 2015 By Michael Bastasch 1 Comment

Front yard waterGov. Jerry Brown is cracking down on how much water Californian’s use in their daily lives, and that means parched lawns are turning brown as the state heads into its fourth year of drought.

In steps some savvy entrepreneurs who have a solution to water restrictions: spray paint your lawn green, don’t waste water on it. Lawn painting companies, like Xtreme Green Grass, are seeing business boom.

“I probably have about seven appointments scheduled in just the next week or so.” David Bartlett, the company’s owner, told KXTV-Sacramento.

Bartlett’s company sprays a non-toxic green dye across the brown areas of your yard, making look as if it’s been freshly watered. The service takes about an hour and costs 25 cents per square foot.

That may seem like a lot, but Bartlett says it’s way cheaper than making your lawn “drought-friendly” by bringing in new plant material. Doing that can cost homeowners several thousand dollars.

Most of California is going through an “exceptional” drought period, according to monitors, and some 37 million residents are being impacted by less-than-normal rainfall and snowpack. The Golden State saw record low snowpack this year.

In response, Gov. Brown mandated that statewide water use shrink by 25 percent, pushing for fines up to $10,000 for those who use too much water. Republicans have blamed federal and state policymakers for flushing lots of water out to sea every year because of the delta smelt — a small, endangered fish.

“For the governor to come out and say, ‘Look, we all have to now take shorter showers and kill our front lawns and stop washing our cars,’ that is not the answer,” said Travis Allen, Republican State Assembly member. “Forty percent of our water is going into the Pacific Ocean. The answer is, let’s stop sending that water into the Pacific, and let’s send it into our cities, into our homes.”

“Sacramento and Washington have chosen to put the well-being of fish above the well-being of people by refusing to capture millions of acre-feet of water during wet years for use during dry years,” U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican who represents the Bakersfield area. “These policies imposed on us now, and during wet seasons of the past, are leaving our families, businesses, communities and state high and dry.”

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Drought: Many point finger of blame at environmentalists

April 13, 2015 By James Poulos 7 Comments

As California’s potent drought inspired soul searching from analysts worried the Golden State can’t grow without water, politicians and officials focused on a more immediate task: laying blame for the problem.

Gov. Jerry Brown has tried to set a philosophical tone, cautioning that “we are embarked upon an experiment that no one has ever tried: 38 million people, with 32 million vehicles, living at the level of comfort that we all strive to attain. This will require adjustment. This will require learning.” But environmentalists have urged him to add water restrictions to California’s big farmers.

At the same time, environmentalism itself has become caught in the political crossfire.

Assigning blame

In recent radio remarks to The Blaze, likely GOP presidential contender Carly Fiorina castigated “liberal environmentalists” for creating a statewide “tragedy.”

“[D]espite the fact that California has suffered from droughts for millennia, liberal environmentalists have prevented the building of a single new reservoir or a single new water conveyance system over decades during a period in which California’s population has doubled,” she said. “There is a man-made lack of water in California — and Washington manages the water for the farmers.”

california drought, Cagle, Feb. 21, 2014Fiorina has not been alone in teeing up environmentalists for criticism over the Golden State’s dire straits. As The Hill noted, “Republicans in California and in Congress have proposed multiple times to beef up the state’s water storage with more dams and reservoirs. Environmentalists have pushed back and questioned the impact that the projects would have on the state’s water needs.”

In a related spat, Republicans at the federal level blamed environmental interests for President Obama’s threatened veto of a bill that would pump water from California’s Delta region into Southern California. The move drew howls from California’s Republican delegation.

When the president ordered Northern California water withheld to protect the tiny Delta smelt, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called the act a “culmination of failed federal and state policies that have exacerbated the current drought into a man-made water crisis. Sacramento and Washington have chosen to put the well-being of fish above the well-being of people by refusing to capture millions of acre-feet of water during wet years for use during dry years.”

Recently, faced with questioning on the drought, White House press secretary Josh Earnest rebuffed the matter. According to Politico, Earnest “said the Obama administration does not have any policy changes to share, and he listed steps that President Barack Obama has taken to offer relief to the state, such as sending $60 million to California food banks and $15 million for farmers and ranchers.”

“We’re going to continue to be in touch with California,” he concluded.

Fracking fight

At the same time federal water allocation has become a bone of political contention, the role of fracking in water consumption has also come under scrutiny. In furtherance of a law passed last year that requires oil and gas companies to disclose how much water they use, state officials told Reuters that last year that the figure hit some 70 million gallons’ worth.

But rather than bowing to objections from within his own party, Gov. Jerry Brown declined to crack down on the practice.

“Despite pressure from environmentalists, Brown has not called for a halt to fracking in the state, saying it is not a major drain on water supplies. ‘Hydraulic fracturing uses a relatively small amount of water – the equivalent of 514 households annually’ per well, said Steven Bohlen, the state oil and gas supervisor. About 100,000 gallons of water is used on average per well, he said.”

For environmentalists, who have been at odds with fracking for years, both in California and across the country, the drought’s intensity simply supplied yet another reason that the practice should end.

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Kevin McCarthy: Bipartisan effort needed to deal with drought

April 2, 2015 By Kevin McCarthy 6 Comments

The current drought in California is devastating. The order from the governor should not only alarm Californians, but the entire nation should take notice that the most productive agriculture state in the country has entered uncharted territory. We have experienced extreme drought conditions in years past but thanks to the most sophisticated water system in the country that captured and stored water during the wet years for use during the dry years, our communities and farmers survived.‎ Unfortunately, state officials have turned their back on this proven infrastructure system.

The order is the culmination of failed federal and state policies that have exacerbated the current drought into a man-made water crisis. Sacramento and Washington have chosen to put the well-being of fish above the well-being of people by refusing to capture millions of acre-feet of water during wet years for use during dry years.

These policies imposed on us now, and during wet seasons of the past, are leaving our families, businesses, communities, and state high and dry. These rules and regulations must be changed.

My House colleagues and I have acted aggressively to enact legislation that would have helped protect us from the current situation. In 2011, and again in early 2014, the House passed comprehensive water legislation to increase the amount of water we could capture and store. Unfortunately, the Obama and Brown Administrations and Senators Boxer and Feinstein opposed these proposals. As the drought continued to worsen, the House passed emergency drought legislation in December of 2014 to allow us to capture storm and rainwater from early season storms. That too was blocked by the Senate.

I’m from the Central Valley and we know that we cannot conserve or ration our way out of this drought. It is time for action, and House Republicans are developing another legislative proposal to help put California water policy back on the path to commonsense. Given the announcement, this time I hope Governor Brown, Senator Boxer, and Senator Feinstein will join my colleagues and me in this effort.

Kevin McCarthy is the Majority Leader, United States Congress

Originally published on Fox and Hounds Daily

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Don’t Break This Tax Promise

December 8, 2014 By Stuart Waldman Leave a Comment

Voters passed Prop 30 as a temporary tax measure to avoid automatic cuts but now there is talk to extend it. Monday, December 1, 2014

Voters are right to be wary of “temporary” tax hikes, and California’s Proposition 30, which passed in 2012, is no exception. Democratic lawmakers are already talking about the possibility of an extension of the tax increase, either through legislative action or in the form of a 2016 ballot measure.

California fell into a significant budget deficit on the heels of the Great Recession. Between 2007 and 2008, state revenues fell by $25 billion, mostly due to decreases in personal income, corporate and other taxes. Social programs, K-12 and higher education were all headed for drastic cuts, so Gov. Jerry Brown helped place Proposition 30, or the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act, on the ballot.

The measure was a 0.25 statewide sales tax increase and an income tax increase for individuals making over $250,000 annually – set to expire in 2016 and 2018, respectively. If Proposition 30 had not passed, there would have been automatic “trigger cuts” to K-12, higher education and public safety. To be specific, K-12 funding would have been cut by $5.4 billion, the University of California and California state systems would have lost $500 million, and there would have been a $1 billion cut to public safety services.

After thoughtful consideration, the Valley Industry & Commerce Association decided to support Proposition 30 to avoid those devastating cuts, largely because of the measure’s sunset provisions. The measure passed with 55 percent of the voters’ approval.

Proposition 30’s passage stabilized school funding for the first time since the Great Recession, and prevented thousands of teacher layoffs. The Legislature balanced its budget after years of instability, and without cutting programs. Gov. Brown proposed a budget with a projected surplus of over $5 billion, and the year-to-year gaps between state spending and revenues have been erased for the time being.

Proposition 30 has wholly done its job, a rare outcome for tax increases. Recently, California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office reported that the expiration of temporary tax hikes over the next several years would not result in a ‘fiscal cliff’ as some have feared. Thanks to an economy reliably on the rebound, the state will be able to weather the major loss in tax revenue – Proposition 30 raised an extra $6 billion a year.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office also estimates that the state will have $4.2 billion in reserves at the start of the next fiscal year, which will begin in July. Proposition 2, which voters passed on Nov. 4, requires that $2 billion of that money be deposited into California’s savings account. A large chunk of the state’s surplus will be spent on public education, which should assuage any worries about schools running into trouble once Proposition 30 expires.

Gov. Brown, whose efforts got Proposition 30 placed on the ballot back in 2012, has indicated that when he said the tax hikes were temporary, he meant it. Still, there has been buzz from some Democrats – notably from Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and Senator Mark Leno. Sacramento Councilman-turned-Assemblymember Kevin McCarty has called Proposition 30 a “tourniquet,” and supports making the measure permanent.

With a huge budget surplus, a positive outlook from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and Gov. Brown in favor of his own effort expiring, why are some legislators already campaigning for Proposition 30’s extension? Considering the electorate’s general skepticism toward tax increases, shouldn’t it be easier to find funding for education and public safety in our now-flush budget? It doesn’t seem like it would require much creativity.

VICA believes that temporary tax hikes should remain temporary. Extending Proposition 30 sets a dangerous precedent for tax increases, and is unfair to voters and Californians in general.

Stuart Waldman is president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association; a business advocacy organization based in Sherman Oaks that represents employers throughout the Los Angeles County region at the local, state and federal levels of government.

This article was originally published on Fox and Hounds Daily

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , , ,

Immigration: A Power Grab that Exacerbates the Problem

November 21, 2014 By Kevin McCarthy 5 Comments

The President doesn’t seem to get the point that he must work with the government he has, not the government he wants. But despite Congress and the American people’s resistance to President Obama’s unilateral action—action the President himself said would ‘violate our laws’ and be ‘very difficult to defend legally’—the President has decided to go it alone yet again.

As President Obama himself said, ‘there are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system.’

We urge the President to listen to his own words. America is a country of laws, and our Constitution does not grant the President the authority to legalize millions of immigrants with the stroke of a pen.

Not only is this action wrong, it does absolutely nothing to solve the underlying problems of our open border and broken immigration system. In fact, it may exacerbate the problem.

The President’s action is a prime example of Washington cynicism. He has responded to Congress and the public’s desire for positive change with an all-or-nothing approach that only damages the prospect of future cooperation. He did not even attempt to start on the right foot and work with us in the new year.

While House Republicans will still work to do everything we can to move the country forward, it is our obligation and responsibility to fight this brazen power grab that doesn’t solve the real problems.

 is Majority Leader, United States Congress

This article was originally published on Fox and Hounds Daily

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , ,