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district transfers? — ^your comment about the fact that the 1992 leg- 

 islation stalled the process or made it more difficult. 



Mr. Nelson. Yes. I was referring to in-project transfers. In other 

 words, one CVP contractor transferring to a neighboring CVP con- 

 tractor as an example. And one of the comments that was made 

 that all of them have been approved within a 3 to 60 day time pe- 

 riod, well, that is exactly the type of problem that we have been 

 confronted with. 



A lot of the transfers that we need to do for optimal management 

 reasons need to be done almost immediately. I mean, when it is 

 mid-May and you find that you don't have enough water for your 

 crop and you want to purchase some water from a neighbor, you 

 can't wait until July or August to have approval to do that. I think 

 what we have done is put our finger on the exact problem that we 

 are having, and that is the timing of approval under the CVPIA 

 criteria that wasn't in place prior to that. 



Mr. Radanovich. I am aware of another transfer that is stuck 

 in the Courts regarding a Mr. Areias on the west side, and it seems 

 to me that that one isn't transferring very smoothly, or is that a 

 different issue? 



Mr. QuiNN. If you would like, I can speak with some authority 

 to that particular case. 



Mr. Radanovich. Well, I guess I am speaking of the fact that it 

 is not maybe as smooth as — ^you know, I mean, there are bugs that 

 need to be worked out, and hopefully this legislation addresses the 

 bugs that need to be worked out. 



Mr. QuiNN. Well, with the Chairmsin's permission, if I might give 

 you an update. I have spent my entire career as a champion of the 

 water market in California. There was a time when only people 

 like Tom Graff and Tim Quinn in a group like this would favor the 

 idea. We have moved considerably beyond that. I also happened to 

 have been the negotiator on behalf of Metropolitan with the Areias 

 dairy farm's transfer. 



From our perspective, it would not be fair to characterize the 

 original Act as hindering our opportunities because our opportuni- 

 ties were zero prior to the passage of the Act. So one of the things 

 we fought for was the ability to move water out of the project on 

 a voluntary basis. We have learned a considerable amount though 

 in the last three years. 



Within a month, we were approached by the Areias dairy farms, 

 and they proposed a transfer. We earnestly negotiated that trans- 

 fer. It took quite a while to work out the details. After about eight 

 or nine months, we went public. If you think of the Fram oil filter 

 man, *Tou pay me now or you pay me later," that is how it is deal- 

 ing with the agricultural districts. 



We had thousands of people showing up to public meetings in 

 Los Banos, California, and we are, quite frankly, learning the les- 

 son that finding a way to work cooperatively with the districts is 

 probably going to be more effective for transferring water. This is 

 going to be a tough one for the urbans. 



My board has given me very clear instructions to make sure that 

 I protect the transfer provisions and their effectiveness if this legis- 

 lation moves forward. So we are certainly prepared to talk about 

 and potentially agree' with a clear role for approval by the districts. 



