Governor Joins Latino Water Coalition to Highlight Need for Safe, Reliable, Clean Water

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you very much, Mayor Lopez, for your great enthusiasm and for being such a great friend and organizer of this Latino Water Coalition. Let's give him a big hand for his great work. (Applause)

I also want to thank all of you for coming out here and I also want to thank Mayor Autry, my very dear friend, for being here and Senator Cogdill for being here today, Assemblymember Villines and Assemblymember Arambula and Assemblymember Solorio and Danny Curtin from the California Carpenters Union -- where is Danny Curtin? There he is, right over there -- Danny Curtin, my man and friend here. It's great, great to have all of you here today and I want to just say thank you all for making this effort and you all wanting to have a comprehensive water reform here in our state. You came to Sacramento to make your voice be heard and I wanted to come out here to make sure that you know that your voice is being heard, that I hear it loud and clear. (Applause)

Each and every one of us knows how important water is to everyone here and to everything that we do in California. And this is why it is important that we work and that we fight for water, because it's important for our farms, for our jobs, for our families, to our environment, to our future, to our developments, to our businesses and the list goes on and on and on.

It is important. And this is why we have to recognize that this state has failed to provide an adequate kind of a water infrastructure in this last few decades. This is why we need to build now. I mean, you are all doing your jobs. You are going to work and you are raising your families and you are feeding the world and you're working hard. But our water system is not anymore working for you and so now we have to make sure -- (Applause)

Look, what has happened just because we have a lack of infrastructure. For the second year in a row now we have a drought. And, at the same time, we see that the federal judge is reducing our water consumption and pumping Delta water by 30 percent. Our reservoirs are now low, 50 percent to 75 percent lower than they should be right now. And our farmers, already all of you are cutting back and letting fields sit empty because they can't guarantee adequate water, which means a loss of billions and billions of dollars in revenues. Developments can't move forward, prices are going up on water and we are now water rationing in various different areas all over the state of California.

When will they finally get it upstairs that we should do water infrastructure and build and continue on with what we started in 2006, which was a comprehensive reform, comprehensive infrastructure, the Strategic Growth Plan? We started building our roads and our schools, expanding our universities, fixing our levees, doing affordable housing. But now it's time that we continue on and fix our water system once and for all and I need your help for that. (Applause)

And I have worked together with Senator Feinstein to send a proposal to the legislators to do our water, comprehensive water infrastructure, just to inspire the legislators one more time, to inspire them and to get it done this year. And the reason why I wanted to do it with Senator Feinstein is to get the idea out there that this is not a political issue. It doesn't matter if it is Democrats or Republicans or Independents or Decline to State, everyone needs water. This is not a political issue. (Applause)

And I can tell you, no matter what bill they bring to me, I guarantee you I will never sign a bill that does not take care of northern California, that does not take care of central California and the Central Valley -- (Applause) -- and that doesn't take care of southern California. And I will never sign a bill that does not have below-the-ground and above-the-ground water storage. (Applause) With your help we will make history and give California safe and clean water not only 20 years from now but 30, 40, 50 years from now. (Applause)

So let us all work together. Let us all work together and go and send that message to the legislators, to come up with a water bill once and for all, to fix our water system. We owe it to the people of California and so let's continue working on that. Thank you very much, again. (Applause)

And now I want to bring out my very good friend, someone that is also as passionate about water and knows how much we need the water and this is my very good friend Mayor Autry. Come on out here. (Applause)

MAYOR AUTRY: Thank you, Governor. You know, Victor spoke about this being historical and it truly is, when the San Joaquin Valley rises up in this kind of numbers, they come to the State Capitol to say, no more. But also another historical event of significance, a historic event has happened here and that's this Governor here who took the time from his schedule -- this is so important to him, we are so important to him -- to come out and address us. We have not had that in the Governor's Office for over three and a half decades, so let's give Governor Schwarzenegger -- (Applause)

And with that, he's in there fighting for us every day, under the spirit that one California moves forward, not a tale of three states moving forward. You can't. And he just outlined his policies and I'm going to ask the Governor -- because he would stay here but I know he's working on things for us, that time is not an ally. If you've been following the budget process, every single minute counts. And the opposition is counting on him not being there but he is there. So Governor, on behalf of the folks here, we understand that and we're going to ask that you -- if you want to go right now and go back and get back on that, we understand perfectly. We know that you're with us 100 percent every step of the way. (Applause)