By Theresa-Marie Wilson

The statewide water crisis and the economy were at the forefront of a presentation by California State Senator William Monning (Dist. 17) at a recent chamber luncheon held at the South County Regional Center.
California is in the fourth year of a drought and water supplies are dwindling as lakes and rivers dry up. Governor Jerry Brown recently introduced historic and mandatory water conservation efforts that ask Californians to reduce their water use by 25 percent.
Speaking to about 75 people, Monning encouraged water conservation measures be taken by everyone to cut down on daily water use.
“We have to get out of the business of pointing fingers at each other,” Monning said. “We each have a responsibility to conserve water. It is a precious resource, and it should not be wasted.”
This is the first time that statewide water restrictions have been mandated. Local water providers will be charged with enforcing the new restrictions that can come with a $500 per day fine for those failing to follow the rules.  The new water restrictions are expected to be approved in early May.
“Significantly voters supported overwhelmingly Prop. 1, the state water bond which moves about $7 billion into our economy with the singular focus of trying to improve our management of water, a very limited resource,” Monning said. “As for the Central Coast region, where we are dependent primarily on ground water, some of that money will be used for better recycling, recharging the aquifers, decontamination of the contaminated aquifers, and better storm water capture. It is putting capitol investments through binds into projects that help us better use our very limited water resources. That is about half of the bond: The other half is for water storage. Unfortunately, we haven’t figured out how to legislate the rain. That would be the best solution for our crops.”
Monning said the water crisis has initiated the exploration of alternative resources such as desalinization.
The outlook for the economy was a little more positive.
“I’ve noticed the state budget improving since the great recession of 2009-2010,” Monning said.
Monning was elected to the to the state assembly in 2008 and that December went into an emergency session to help create solutions for the state’s $41 billion deficit.
“We have to have a balanced budget based on our state constitution,” Monning said. “We can carry deficits forward. We either cut or find new revenue to bridge the gap. With the recession of 2009-2010, we balanced the budget with mostly cuts.”
Monning said the slowly improving economy has been the greatest driver of restoring the state budget.
“We have the highest rate of new jobs than any state in the country,” he said. “Our revenues in this state are based on personal income tax. It is the leading revenue source at about 62 percent and our sales tax is about 25 percent.”
Capital gains tax and corporate tax fill in the rest of the state’s revenue.
The economic gains, while still unpredictable, gives the state the opportunity to fund programs that had been cut.
“One of our priorities is to take a look at some of the lack of flexibility in our budget for some of the programs that really support some of the most vulnerable people who are absolutely dependent on state and federal programs,” Monning said referring to housing for disabled people.
The 17th Senate District includes all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz Counties, and portions of Monterey and Santa Clara Counties. Monning is the Senate Majority Leader and Chair of the Senate Committee on Legislative Ethics.
The event was hosted by the Arroyo Grande • Grover Beach Chamber of Commerce.