Important Salton Sea Restoration Legislation Passes Senate Floor
SACRAMENTO – Yesterday, the California State Senate passed Senate Bill 583, authored by Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego). The bill creates the Salton Sea Conservancy to unify the state’s efforts to expedite preservation project delivery, protect residents’ health, and foster ecological recovery in the area.
“The environmental calamity at the Salton Sea is decades in the making,” said Senator Padilla. “It is going to take unprecedented collaboration at all levels of governmental to adequately address this challenge. A conservancy would strengthen that necessary coordination and give local voices greater control in how limited state resources are spent addressing this crisis.”
SB 583 would create the Salton Sea Conservancy, tasking it with coordinating management of all conservation projects in the region to restore the shrinking sea and reducing the negative health impact the Sea imposes.
“The Salton Sea is on life support, but a lack of coordination between the different members of its health team is hampering its recovery,” said Frank Ruiz, director of Audubon California’s Salton Sea Program. “A conservancy would provide a single administrative umbrella to improve coordination between the Salton Sea Authority and other government agencies, tribes, as well as community and conservation organizations, allowing them to work more effectively together to save the Salton Sea. The lives of thousands of local residents and the survival of bird species cherished across the continent are at stake. We must get this right.”
SB 583 has received bipartisan support and passed out on a 39-0 vote. The bill now heads Assembly. Read more about SB 583 here.
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Steve Padilla represents the 18th Senate District, which includes the communities of Chula Vista, the Coachella Valley, Imperial Beach, the Imperial Valley, National City, and San Diego. Prior to his election to the Senate in 2022, Senator Padilla was the first person of color ever elected to city office in Chula Vista, the first Latino Mayor, and the first openly LGBT person to serve or be elected to city office. Website of Senator Steve Padilla: https://sd18.senate.ca.gov/