As El Niño approaches, Newsom vetos bill aimed at protecting California levees from flooding

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill funding repairs for levees in the California Delta region, and protections for them and other vital water infrastructure from flooding, “even with an El Niño winter looming and memories of flooding still fresh,” Rachel Becker writes for Cal Matters. Newsom said in his veto letter that the $170 million included in the state budget for water infrastructure repairs was enough; The state’s Delta Stewardship Council estimates that it will take $3.3 billion to fully fix the Delta’s levees, many of which do not meet construction standards.

The vetoed bill would have created a $300 million annual repair fund for the levees. The bill passed the Legislature unanimously, but drew criticism from the California Central Valley Flood Control Association, who said it could “disrupt existing funding programs and create additional bureaucracy around already complex reimbursement processes,” Cal Matters reports.

The bill would have also put funding toward repairing the water delivery system that brings Northern California water through the Delta, supplying water to two-thirds of the state's population. “A state report found the damage could cut water deliveries by almost 90% in the next 17 years. The California Department of Water Resources estimates that fixing the damage, both past and future, could cost nearly $4 billion,” Becker writes.