OPINION: State Should Let Emergency Drought Regulations Expire

At a recent workshop to discuss whether the state’s emergency drought regulations should be extended beyond February, two government agencies scheduled to report on drought conditions were noticeably absent because they were busy responding to flooding issues. Apart from this ironic twist, one cannot brush aside this winter’s record rainfall, snowpack and reservoir conditions. A week after this workshop, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for 50 counties from flooding, erosion and mud flows. So one wonders why an editorial in The Sacramento Bee encouraged the Brown administration to keep its emergency drought regulations in place through April.