Monday, September 1, 2014

Groundwater regulation in California...

Groundwater regulation in California...  The Moonbeam (Jerry Brown) has already stated his support for this legislation, so it is almost certain to be signed.  We first heard rumblings about this two years ago, before the current drought.  At that time, the motivation was to steal more money from California citizens: the idea was to require a meter on every well (paid for by the well's owner, of course), then charge a tax per gallon of water pumped out.  In its current incarnation, the legislation doesn't mention such a tax – but the authority granted would certainly allow that tax to be imposed.  I expect that to happen in, oh, 50 or so microseconds after Moonbeam signs this into law.

This is politically quite palatable to Sacramento.  Yes, rural homeowners and farmers with wells will be outraged, and will scream bloody murder.  But ... those homeowners and farmers are a small minority in this state whose population is overwhelmingly urban.  Plus, as an extra added benefit, those affected folks are overwhelmingly not Democrats.  So they're pissing off a whole bunch of people who would never vote for them anyway.  Win!

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