California State Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee Records, 1972-2004

Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Creators:
Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee
Abstract:
The Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee is the most recent Senate committee to oversee legislation affecting agriculture and water resources. The Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee Records consist of forty cubic feet of textual, audiovisual, and electronic records reflecting the activity of the committee in investigating and introducing legislation related to agriculture and water resources.
Extent:
40 cubic feet, including audiovisual material and electronic resources.
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English

Background

Scope and content:

The Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee Records consist of forty cubic feet of textual, audiovisual, and electronic records reflecting the activity of the committee in investigating and introducing legislation related to agriculture and water resources. The records cover the years 1972-2004, and are composed of bill files, hearing files, subject files, correspondence files, and committee records of bills.

The strength of the collection can be found in the committee’s subject files. The majority of these reflect water issues relating to canals, dams, river parkways, water transfers and management, and additional subject matter pertaining to state water policy. Of particular interest to the researcher are files concerning Senate Bill 900. Commonly known as the CALFED Bay-Delta program and brainchild of Senator Jim Costa, Senate Bill 900 (1996) was designed to provide a more reliable water system for the state of California, with emphasis on the water supply and environmental problems confronting the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Biographical / historical:

The Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee is the most recent Senate committee to oversee legislation affecting agriculture and water resources.

The first committee to have agriculture under its purview was the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Missions and Mission Lands created during the fifth session of the legislature on January 5, 1854. In 1862, this committee changed to the Senate Committee on Agriculture. A list of the standing committees of 1907 indicates the modification of the committee name to Senate Committee on Agriculture and Dairying. The committee name changed once again during the 1911 legislative session to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Fruit and Vine Interests before taking the title of Senate Committee on Agriculture from 1915 to 1971 (Senate Journals, January 2, 1854, p. 53; Senate Journal, January 6, 1962, p. 131; Legislative Handbook, 1907-1915, p. 24).

The first committee that had responsibility for water resources issues was the Senate Committee on Water Resources. Following the passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution 11 the Senate Rules Committee provided for the appointment of a California Joint Committee on Water Resources in 1941. The charge of this new committee was to investigate and report on the water problems of the state (Statutes of California, January 25, 1941, p. 317).

In their Report of Standing Committees on March 8, 1972, the Senate Rules Committee announced the abolishment of the Water Resources Committee, “with its subject matter to be assigned to a single committee on agriculture and water resources.” Appointed as a standing committee, the nine members of the newly formed were assigned to conduct, in addition to agriculture issues, needed studies and public hearings to resolve policy issues necessary to administer the San Francisco Bay Area Wastewater Management Plan (Senate Journal, March 9, 1972, p. 586).

According to Senate Resolution 4, enrolled on December 6, 2004, this committee was reorganized as two separate committees: the Senate Agriculture Committee and the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee.

The chairs of the Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee from 1972 to 2004 were:

*Way, Howard (Rep.), 1972-1976

*Ayala, Ruben S. (Dem.), 1977-1992

*McCorquodale, Dan (Dem.), 1993-1994

**Costa, Jim (Dem.), 1995-2002

*Machado, Mike (Dem.), 2003-2004

*Legislator's papers available at the California State Archives.

**All files removed from the California State Archives as of September 2002. Contact Central Valley Political Archives, Henry Madden Library, CSU, Fresno.

Acquisition information:
The State Archives received these records in accordance with California Government Code 9080(b) which requires legislative committees to transfer their records to the State Archives when they are no longer needed by the committee.
Accruals:

No further accruals are expected.

Physical location:
California State Archives
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Location of this collection:
1020 "O" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814, US
Contact:
(916) 653-2246
reference@sos.ca.gov
Website