Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, talked with KHTS about his office’s legislative successes in 2017 and his goals for the State Senate in 2018.

“This last year my main focus was SB 634, which created the new Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, which basically melded together the four existing agencies,” said Wilk. “This will better manage watershed, help us meet all the environmental requirements made by the federal government and it will create savings that will be passed on to consumers.”

Another important aspect of the new water agency, according to Wilk, is that all water agencies and disbursement within the Santa Clarita Valley will no longer be privatized.

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“This brings Santa Clarita’s water needs into the public sphere, and adds more transparency and accountability,” continued Wilk. “This will be good for consumers.”

The new Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency came into effect on Monday, Jan. 1, 2018. The new water boards first meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 2.

In addition to working on new water legislation, Wilk worked in 2017 to have state auditors take a closer examination of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).

“We got approval for a state audit of LAHSA, which will look into how they disperse funds throughout the Los Angeles County,” said Wilk. “Downtown Los Angeles gets the lion’s share of funding for their homeless persons, while places on the outskirts, like Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita, get only the scraps.”

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The California State Auditor plans to produce their findings concerning LAHSA at the end of February and give recommendations for best practices in taking care of the homeless, and if any changes are needed for the federal funding formula, according to Wilk.

“Antelope Valley receives $2,000 for every homeless person, while Downtown Los Angeles receives $8,000 per homeless person,” said Wilk. “Santa Clarita receives a little more than $2,000 a year, but it’s still nowhere near close to (the) amount Downtown gets.”

Furthermore, Wilk highlighted that he had voted against and still stands opposed to the 2017 gas tax in California, an initiative that came into effect in October and added an excise tax of 12 cents per gallon.

“This isn’t just a gas tax but, as of yesterday, vehicle licensing also went up based on the value of your car,” said Wilk. “Also, this gas tax makes it more expensive for truckers, and therefore more expensive to transport goods.”

Wilk stated that he will be working as a private citizen in order to get a new initiative on the ballot for 2018 to abolish SB 1.

As for the new year, Wilk stated that his legislative agenda has not been set yet, but that he has a number of ideas and areas he’d like to work on and create policy for.

“We’ll be working on additional water legislation to make it easier to transfer water between agencies, because there is a lot of needless rules and regulations,” said Wilk. “With water being so scarce, it needs to be easier — not harder — to move water around the state.”

In addition to working on new water policy, Wilk plans to address public safety issues and new solar panel farms that are built in local communities.

“We’re doing research and looking into seeing that we can make sure nothing like the farm near Canyon View Estates happens again,” said Wilk.

Related: Senator Scott Wilk Discusses Water Bill, Taxes, Legislation (AUDIO)

Lastly, Wilk acknowledged that when he and his colleagues return to session Wednesday at 2 p.m., he plans to work toward helping California homeowners who were disproportionately affected by the GOP’s new national tax plan.

“The first day of session, we are going to talk and see how we can reduce this burden on homeowners,” concluded Wilk. “And the easiest way to do that is to lower taxes.”

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