Kuehl, Sheila

By Sheila Kuel

After more than six years of carving up and flushing what used to be referred to as the California Dream, the Governor has looked around at the wreckage and decided to float the story that it wasn't his doing.  Many have obediently picked up the narrative and amplified it through the press and online. The story, as set out, for instance, in the New York Times, goes: the Governor is a real independent, neither a rabid left-wing Democrat nor a salivating Tea Partier and, therefore, no one loves him any more.

Somehow, even as he stands in the rubble of California, Arnold has spun this to be a good thing, when, instead, he is an embodiment of what Texas gadfly Jim Hightower meant when he said, "There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos."

By Sheila Kuehl

Every January, the Governor is required to present a proposed budget to the Legislature. The budget sub-committees in each house then spend several months pulling apart, questioning and, in some cases, amending the thousands of provisions. The Governor's first proposal, however, is a road map for the ways in which he wants to bring the budget into balance. Cuts or revenues? Smoke and mirrors or reality?

This essay presents the basics of the Governor's proposed budget, which has yet to be fully amended and adopted, as there will be a revision in May from his office to reflect the realities of the April tax collections, as well as endless back-and-forths with the four legislative leaders on the big ticket items.

By Sheila Kuehl

In my last set of essays on the state budget, published after the last budget "solution" was adopted in July, 2009, I described the many ways in which the Legislature had attempted to cope with sinking revenues and a bleak future.  In the February 2009 do-over of the 08-09 budget, the Governor had insisted on 14.5 billion in cuts and, in July, had cut an additional 18 billion from the 09-10 budget, for a total drop of 32.5 billion.

Since this amount was not sufficient to fill the entire gap, the Legislature had convinced the Governor to temporarily increase revenues through a two year bump in the sales tax which was projected to add a total in the future of 16 billion.  This was, however, a bit of a risky proposition, since consumer spending was already beginning to plummet, along with consumer income.  

In addition, in order to further fill the gap, both the Governor and the Legislature were counting on federal stimulus funds to provide 8.5 billion and planning to borrow an additional 2.5 billion.  

By Sheila Kuehl

(Fourth is a series of four essays describing the five separate pieces of water legislation passed by the California legislature in late 2009 and signed by the Governor)

The Eleven Billion Dollar Question

Despite the fact that California is hocked up to its eyeballs in debt, an eleven billion, one hundred and forty thousand dollar water bond is proposed for the November ballot this year.  As set forth below, the bond would fund various projects, some of them very good for the people of the state and some benefiting only certain areas.

By Sheila Kuehl

(3rd of 4 essays on the 5 separate pieces of water legislation recently passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor).

Who Actually Owns California's Water?

Although some think water is owned by the companies that sell it and some think it belongs to the federal government, in actuality the fresh water in California belongs to the people of California, and the right to use it is by permit and grant. Use includes "diverting" water from its source and using it personally, or charging others for delivering it. Even the federal government must abide by California water law and must have licenses and permits for use from the State Water Resources Board.

Water rights have been established in different ways throughout the long history of our state.  If you had a right to divert and use water before 1914, you still have it, at the same place of diversion and place of use. The City and County of San Francisco had such early rights. 

By Sheila Kuehl
(2nd of 4 essays on the 5 separate pieces of water legislation recently passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor).

What Is The Delta and Why Is It Important?
If you roll out your big map of the rivers, watersheds and estuaries of California (what? you don't have one?), you will see that most of the water originating north of Sacramento and the Bay Area flows into and through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  The official boundaries of the Delta run from Sacramento in the north, to Tracy in the south, and from Hwy 5 on the east, halfway into Contra Costa County in the west.  More than half of California's snow and rainfall drains into the Delta, mostly through the Sacramento River, and the runoff navigates over a thousand miles of sloughs feeding habitat and agriculture.

By Sheila Kuehl
 

(First of a series of three essays describing the five separate pieces of water legislation recently passed by the California legislature and signed, in many public events, by the Governor)
Overview

Given the breathless tone of the several press reports on the "great California water reform package", you would have thought the Legislature had parted the waters, rather than simply passing five water bills. The lead-up to the passage had been long and dramatic.

The Governor, who is extremely concerned about what he calls his "legacy", that is, the fact that, so far, he doesn't really have much of one, insisted that the Legislature very quickly come up with a package of bills to reform governance over the allocation, conservation and pricing of water in the state.  

By Sheila Kuehl
California Integrated Waste Management Boardmember

By Sheila Kuehl
California Integrated Waste Management Boardmember

By Sheila Kuehl
California Integrated Waste Management Boardmember

First: Republicans Craft a Win-Win Scenario (for themselves)