Democratic legislative leaders are putting forward a plan to pump money into California's economy to deal with the state's water issues. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata are pushing legislation to speed up grant funding for some water projects.
These include levee improvements, delta restoration and water conservation. Under their plan more than $800 million in bond money would be handed out. Perata says using this will help stimulate California's faltering economy.
Perata: Lord knows the way the construction industry is in California, putting another $800,000,000 out there is something we can do ourselves to help the economy. It's a massive public works project. We should be doing that.
Just last week, Governor Schwarzenegger and U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein introduced a $9 billion water bond measure for the November ballot. A Governor's spokesperson says funding is already in place for these projects in that plan.
