Los Banos Rotary Club History
Cobey Sees No Quick Solution In Water Fight

Senator James Cobey, addressing members of the Los Banos Rotary Club Tuesday noon, said he could not see any immediate solution to or statewide agreement concerning Calif.'s statewide water problem. Emphasizing it is a sectional rather than a political problem, the Senator said the answer can never come from any one portion of the state; rather it must be based on a common agreement wherein all parties and sections are served and likewise protected satisfactorily.

Personally, Cobey said, he favors a solution which would protect the counties of origin with a "power of recapture" clause which would, in event of need for additional water, place the burden of additional supply on areas taking water from the origin area rather than for the counties of origin to seek new additional supplies if need should arise.

In other words, he said, the county of origin should eternally have the power and right to turn off the faucet of at least reduce the exportation supply if its own needs cannot otherwise be met.

Cobey proposes legislation setting up a water needs study to be projected over an extended period, so that as California continues to grow and develop, anticipated future water needs can be determined well in advance and construction projects scheduled accordingly.

Cobey pointed to Southern California's current interest in the Feather River Project as, first, insurance for its own water needs; and secondly, because the Feather and kindred watershed supplies the last great body of "cheap" water supply in the state. The south is well aware of this fact and is determined that they shall have a permanent guaranteed part of such water. Should the counties of origin not be fully protected at this time, Cobey insists, Southern California, with all foreseeable water needs already insured, could hardly be expected to look with favor on helping to finance an additional and more expensively produced water supply for areas of need in central and northern parts of the state.

It all boils down, Cobey says, to the simple fact that Southern California needs water from the north part of the state; the north must have the financing support of the south; and there must be a middle road which will protect and assist all parties.

The senator also briefly reviewed the recent legislative session, which he analyzed as comprising four major parts. They were the water problem, state aid to schools, the battle to keep up with the increased cost of living, and what to do with tidelands oil.

As to school aid, he explained the $37 million appropriation without balancing such amount with a source of new revenue is merely postponing the inevitable, as some new revenue must be devised next year to carry the additional burden.

The legislature did approve numerous bills for increased pensions, wage increases to state employees, additional medical benefits and old age benefits.

As to his personal work at Sacramento, Cobey said he introduced 92 bills, of which 29 were enacted, 21 were lost, 19 were held inactive, and the remainder constituted skeleton bills introduced at the initial session to permit follow-up in the general session if the need arose. Most of these, he said, concerned water and water problems, which were held up pending possible basic legislation that did not materialize.

August 9, 1957

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