Legal News

Water pact takes a hit in Sacramento

By Richard Binder

As reported yesterday, a ruling was announced in the ongoing water rights case: Superior Court Judge Roland Candee in Sacramento tentatively invalidated the 2003 settlement, saying that the state improperly agreed to pick up much of the cost of saving the shrinking Salton Sea in the southeastern California desert. Restoring the state's largest lake was a crucial piece of the agreement.

The state put no limit on costs, "even if they ultimately amounted to millions or billions of dollars," violating a constitutional limit on assuming debts, Candee wrote in his decision.

The judge will hear arguments next Thursday to decide whether to make the ruling final.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on December 11, 2009 (boomark / email).