SACRAMENTO — Assembly Speaker Karen Bass admits to being "strictly a city kid" who's basically clueless about California's most valuable resource: water.
"Coming from L.A., we use it all, but we have no concept where it comes from," the Democrat says, poking fun at herself and other Southlanders. "We get it out of a bottle or the tap . . . "
"I know that it's a contentious issue -- I mean 'Chinatown,' the movie.
"That was the extent of my knowledge. And then I come up here and find out I live in a flood plain [near the Sacramento airport]. I was stunned."
Bass is laughing over lunch. She's acknowledging her water ignorance, but -- most important -- expressing an eagerness to learn.
Recently, before replacing termed-out Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) as Assembly speaker, Bass took trips to Bakersfield and Fresno to hear firsthand about California's dire water problems. "I'd never been on a farm before," she says, until Assemblywoman Nicole Parra (D-Hanford) marched her into a field to learn about irrigation.
Bass is one hopeful sign for impatient water warriors because of a leadership transition at the Capitol.
Another is Sen. Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, who has been selected by fellow Democrats to be the next Senate leader, replacing termed-out Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland).
Steinberg is a policy wonk who, as a Sacramentan, is very familiar with the leaky, creaky Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and its vulnerability to flood or, worse, earthquake.
The delta estuary is California's main water hub, the source of drinking water for 24 million people and irrigation for 3 million acres. It also has become a deathtrap for fish, ranging from the endangered tiny smelt to disappearing popular salmon. So federal courts have cut back on water exports to save the critters.
Steinberg, chairman of the Senate water committee, is eager to repair and update the state's aged water facilities. So is Bass, unlike her predecessor Nunez, whose main interest in water was to use it as a bargaining chip to achieve universal healthcare.
Water talks between Perata and the Schwarzenegger administration were scuttled when the Senate killed Nunez's health insurance bill in January. A bitter Nunez would have killed any water bond proposal the Senate had sent the Assembly. But Perata denied him the sweet revenge by pulling the plug on water.
Bass has told Perata that she has no such hang-ups about water and healthcare.
