SACRAMENTO – The Delta Stewardship Council was created by legislation 10 years ago to develop the Delta Plan and manage the plan after its implementation. But residents of the Delta region are barely represented on the Stewardship Council, which makes decisions that affect the economy and environmental health of the Delta region and the everyday lives of the people who live here.
Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D-Discovery Bay), whose district (AD 11) encompasses a large cross section of the Delta in three counties, has introduced AB 1194, which would add four voting members, appointed by representatives of the Delta region, to the Stewardship Council.
The four additions would increase the Council’s voting membership from seven to 11.
“My goal is to ensure appropriate representation for Delta communities in matters that come before the Stewardship Council for decisions,” said Frazier, who is a co-chair of the Legislative Delta Caucus. “Currently only one member, the chair of the Delta Protection Commission, lives in the Delta region.”
“It is absolutely essential that Delta residents have a voice in determining the future of this region,” said state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, who co-chairs the Delta Caucus with Frazier.
Of the four new voting members AB 1194 would add, one would be appointed by communities in the primary zone of the Delta, one by communities in the secondary zone of the Delta, and two more, according to their expertise, by the five Delta counties.
Frazier’s bill would also add two additional non-voting members to the Stewardship Council: one sitting state assemblymember and one sitting state senator, appointed by leadership of these bodies.
These changes would align the Stewardship Council’s membership with the rules governing the other two Delta agencies, the Delta Protection Commission and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy.
AB 1194 is coauthored by five members of the Delta Legislative Caucus.
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Assemblymember Frazier represents the 11th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Antioch, Bethel Island, Birds Landing, Brentwood, Byron, Collinsville, Discovery Bay, Fairfield, Isleton, Knightsen, Locke, Oakley, Pittsburg (partial), Rio Vista, Suisun City, Travis AFB, Vacaville and Walnut Grove.
