Senate committee advances bill to extend emergency minimum flows on Scott and Shasta rivers for up to five years

Assemblymember Rogers presented AB 263 to the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, seeking to keep existing emergency minimum‑flow regulations on the Scott and Shasta rivers in effect for five years or until the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) finalizes permanent regulations.

The bill ‘‘creates a bridge’’ between the current emergency drought orders and the Water Board’s permanent rulemaking, Rogers told the committee, and is intended to avoid losing the minimum flows that supporters say have been critical since the 2021 emergency regulatory actions.

Supporters said the flows are essential to restoring salmon runs and tribal lifeways. Philip Williams, a member of the Yurok Tribal Council, said the Yurok have not had a commercial salmon fishery for nine years and described the cultural and economic harms to tribal communities. Russell “Buster” Atterberry, chairman of the Karuk Tribal Council, described historical…