SACRAMENTO, California — State lawmakers have declined, for now, to go along with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to fast-track a controversial tunnel to reroute water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
What happened: The Senate and the Assembly passed a budget proposal Friday that did not include a trailer bill proposed by Newsom that would shorten judicial review of lawsuits challenging the tunnel, streamline its pending water rights permit and give the state financing authority for the project. The Legislature, however, hasn’t ruled out passing the fast-tracking proposal later in the session.
More context: A version of the proposed project has been floating around — first as a canal, then a pair of tunnels — for more than a half-century, during which it has reliably brought out opposition from environmental groups and Delta elected officials concerned about habitat loss and construction impacts.
Newsom has called the $20 billion, 45-mile-long tunnel through the Delta — now known as the Delta Conveyance Project — a centerpiece to the state’s climate adaptation efforts as it stares down an expected 10 percent reduction in water supplies by 2040. He has said he wants to finish the project’s permitting by the end of his term in early 2027.
