Senate Republicans Successfully Push for Safe Drinking Water for Disadvantaged Communities Without a Tax Increase

Today, Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) released the following statement after Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 200 into law. With an urgency clause, SB 200 will immediately become effective. This new law creates the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund which will provide funding to communities that lack access to clean drinking water.

SB 200 will:

  • Provide funding to communities that lack access to clean drinking water.
  • Annually appropriate $130 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to the fund created by this bill.
  • Specify that a tax or fee will not be imposed.

Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) issued the following statement:

"My Senate Republican colleagues and I support providing clean drinking water for our hardworking families without raising taxes. The State's inability to provide clean drinking water to some of California's most rural and disadvantaged communities is a moral failure.

"Having clean drinking water is a necessity, and Senate Republicans worked to help these disadvantaged families without raising taxes or creating a fee. With a $22 billion budget surplus in this state, there was no need to raise taxes on Californians," said Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove.