Collection Guide
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Inventory of the California State Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee Records
See series descriptions for LP numbers.
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Title: California State Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee Records
Dates: 1972-2004
Collection number: See series descriptions for LP numbers.
Creator:
Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee
Collection Size:
40 cubic feet, including audiovisual material and electronic resources.
Repository:
California State Archives
Sacramento, California
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.
Physical location: California State Archives
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
While the majority of the records are open for research, any access restrictions are noted in the record series descriptions.
For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the California State Archives. Permission for reproduction or publication
is given on behalf of the California State Archives as the owner of the physical items. The researcher assumes all responsibility
for possible infringement which may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the California State Archives
collections.
[Identification of item], Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee Records, LP[number]:[folder number], California
State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State, Sacramento, California.
Acquisition and Custodial History
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.
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.
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.
No further accruals are expected.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Agriculture - California
Water - California
Water rights - California
Pesticides - California
Dairy laws - California
Related Material at the California State Archives
Ruben S. Ayala Papers
Dan McCorquodale Papers
Howard Way Papers
Mike Machado Papers
Assembly Agriculture Committee Records
Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee Records
Senate Agriculture Committee Records
Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee Records
Howard K. Way, Oral History Interview, conducted 1984 by Julie Shearer, Government History Documentation Project: Ronald Reagan
Gubernatorial Era, University of California, Berkeley.
Researchers interested in this committee are advised to check the papers of its Chairs. Committee Chairs often kept materials
relating to committee operations among their personal files. For Chair papers available at the California State Archives or
other repositories, this information can be found in the committee history.