In response to Governor Brown’s press conference today on water and transportation, the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Senior Vice President, Public Policy & Economic Development, Robert Dugan issued the following statement:
“It’s a step in the right direction to refocus the state on deferred maintenance of our water supply infrastructure, public safety flood control infrastructure, and roads. While it is unfortunate a crisis like the failure of the main spillway of the Oroville Dam was required to achieve this refocus, we are grateful that losses were minimized, and the effort going forward will concentrate on what is needed for public health, safety, and commerce in the Capital Region.
The Sacramento Metro Chamber has long focused on communicating these needs to our state and federal agencies and elected officials through our policy committees and advocacy programs, resulting in investment dollars that have improved our transportation corridors, levees, and other critical infrastructure. We will continue to champion the ongoing need for investment in infrastructure for our water and roads to state legislators during our upcoming State Legislative Summit and federal representatives this spring during Capitol-to-Capitol. We must invest in both maintenance of critical infrastructure and development of new infrastructure to accommodate our growth, not one or the other.”