A Santa Clarita Valley representative sponsored three bills that passed through the state Senate this week, including a wiretap bill, an effort to increase transparency and the first-ever attempt to protect groundwater supplies.

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“Groundwater is a critical source of fresh water for families, farmers and businesses, and this legislation will help ensure that it will still be available for future generations,” said state Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Calabasas, who got the bill passed on Wednesday.

Two other bills included legislation to extend California’s wiretap statute from 2015 to 2020, and another will increase reporting for contributions.

AB 1739

AB 1739 hopes to protect groundwater, which makes up about 40 percent of California’s water in normal years and up to 60 percent during droughts.

Three of four Californians rely on groundwater for at least a portion of their drinking water, according to a news release from Pavley’s office.

Unlike surface water from lakes, rivers and streams, California’s groundwater is not systematically managed or regulated, she said. Groundwater is being pumped faster than it can be replenished.

Because of this, a condition known as “overdraft” that causes sinking land, damage to infrastructure, increased costs for farmers and residents who have to drill deeper wells, water contamination, impairment of underground water storage and other problems.

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A Santa Clarita Valley representative sponsored three bills that passed through the state Senate this week, including a wiretap bill, an effort to increase transparency and the first-ever attempt to protect groundwater supplies.

SB 35

The California Senate gave final unanimous approval on Tuesday to approve another bill, SB 35, by Pavley and Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) to extend the sunset date of California’s wiretap law.

“This bill ensures that investigators have the tools they need to protect Californians by pursuing the most serious cases while upholding civil liberty and privacy protections,” Pavley said.

California’s 25-year-old wiretap law allows law enforcement to use telephone and electronic surveillance to investigate the most serious felonies. The law has been successfully used to investigate and prosecute murder, organized crime and major drug trafficking offenses.

SB 844

The third bill to be passed, Senate Bill 844, requires the secretary of state to list the amount of total contributions and the names of the top 10 donors for and against each ballot proposition online.

“Voters have a right to know how money is spent to influence the outcome of elections,” Senator Pavley said. “This legislation makes campaign finance information more transparent and accessible to the public.”

It would also require that online voter guides include links to financial disclosure reports for candidates and ballot propositions.

California began posting online financial information for ballot proposition campaigns in 2000, an important step toward greater transparency. However, finding out the top contributors for or against a proposition requires gathering and re-formatting data from numerous separate financial reports.

This difficult and time-consuming endeavor makes the information inaccessible to many voters.

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