Schwarzenegger discussed the need for a comprehensive water package at a rally held by the California Latino Water Coalition

"While we still have a few remaining issues to work out, I commend the legislative leaders for their focus and commitment to solving this crisis, and I will weigh all the bills on their merits," he said in a statement Sunday evening.

Schwarzenegger called a special session of the legislature on water, a move that groups like the Southern California Water Committee have been lobbying for.  California’s water crisis has received attention from the Obama Administration, which urged Schwarzenegger to call a special session last month.

The administration held a hearing at the Interior Department with state officials and interest groups, and is consulting the National Academy of Sciences to look into ways to protect the endangered species in the delta while allowing for more water deliveries, although the review likely won’t be finished for six months.

Representatives of the San Joaquin Valley have asked federal officials to waive enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, which has slowed water deliveries as restrictions were put in place to protect a native fish of the delta.  Rainfall over the past three years has ranged from 63 percent to 78 percent of the state’s average, and the Interior Department estimates the drought is responsible for about three-quarters of lower water deliveries to the Central Valley.

Until now, the governor and legislators have been meeting in closed-door talks, aiming for a bill that will address the state’s infrastructure and conservation needs sufficiently to garner the two-thirds vote Schwarzenegger needs in both the Assembly and the Senate.  The negotiations have been kept mostly private.  Schwarzenegger has emphasized the need for water storage facilities, improving groundwater quality and flood protection, and restoring the delta.

The plan, which includes between $8 billion and $12 billion in general obligation bonds, must still go before voters, who are increasingly wary of borrowing funds, given the state’s bond ratings. The bonds may be split into two measures, one in 2010 and one in 2012.  State Controller John Chiang said Friday that income tax receipts have fallen 11 percent below estimations in the most recent budget plan, signaling an increasingly difficult fiscal outlook as policymakers look toward next year’s budget.

Fiscal concerns are not the only details to be hammered out.  The complex package will have multiple bills, including a Bay Delta Conservation Plan to protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and other bills to ensure a reliable water supply for Southern California and the Central Valley.  A new canal to move water from the north down to the delta will likely be discussed, bringing with it a host of environmental and water-rights issues.

                                        

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