Little Hoover Commission Holds Third Hearing on CALFED

The Little Hoover Commission held its third and final public hearing Thursday on governance of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program and the California Bay-Delta Authority.

Among those providing testimony was California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman, who recommended modifying the current Authority structure to improve accountability and oversight of the CALFED program. Describing himself as the “chief architect” of the Administration’s policy on water, Chrisman called for re-establishment of a CALFED policy group – separate from the Authority board – to provide leadership and ensure that key decisions are made and implemented.

“I think a lot of us can take responsibility for what is wrong, but we are focusing on how to improve it,” Chrisman said. “We are trying to create an architecture that gets back to an integrated decision process to carry out the goals and objectives we all agree on.”

He likened the needed changes to a mid-course correction, and cautioned against reverting to pre-CALFED days of conflict and litigation.

The commission also heard from former State Reclamation Board member Dr. Jeffrey Mount, Harvard Law School Professor Jody Freeman, Environmental Defense Regional Director Tom Graff, and Tom Zuckerman, co-counsel for the Central Delta Water Agency.

Representatives of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, the Chesapeake Bay Program and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency also provided testimony on how state-federal collaboration is achieved in their programs.

The commission will meet one more time in November before issuing its report and recommendations for improving governance of the CALFED program.