From the Department of Water Resources:
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) filed a “validation action” with the Sacramento County Superior Court regarding DWR’s authority to, among other things, issue revenue bonds to finance the planning, design, construction and other capital costs of Delta conveyance facilities, such as the Delta Conveyance Project DWR approved in December 2023. Although DWR has existing legal authority to finance and construct the proposed project under the Central Valley Project Act, a validation action is necessary to provide the requisite assurance to the financial community for the sale of revenue bonds.
DWR is pursuing this path in parallel with its appeal of the decision issued in its previous validation action to explore all possible paths to resolve the validation question with expediency.
Background
DWR proposes to issue revenue bonds to raise funds for the environmental review, planning and construction of Delta conveyance facilities.
The validation case will confirm DWR’s authority to use revenue bonds to fund the effort. Bonds for construction will not be issued unless and until specific conditions precedent are satisfied.
DWR derives its authority to issue bonds to finance planning and construction of the State Water Project (SWP) under the following acts of the State legislature: The State Water Resources Development Bond Act of 1959 (Burns Porter Act), California Water Code section 12930 et. seq., and the Central Vally Project Act, California Water Code section 11100 et. seq.
As is the case with other revenue bonds issued to finance the SWP, these revenue bonds, if issued, would be repaid by participating SWP contractors.
Other coverage …
CA Department of Water Resources files delta tunnel ‘validation action’ with court
Dan Bacher writes, “On January 7, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) filed a “validation action” with the Sacramento County Superior Court regarding DWR’s authority to issue revenue bonds to finance the planning, design, construction and other capital costs of Delta conveyance facilities, such as the Delta Conveyance Project DWR approved in December 2023. On January 16 of last year, the Sacramento Superior Court ruled that DWR lacks the authority to issue revenue bonds to finance the embattled Delta Conveyance Project, commonly referred to as the Delta Tunnel. DWR has appealed that decision: sacramento.newsreview.com/… The Delta Tunnel is a project opposed by several California Indian tribes, nearly all environmental groups in the state and beyond, Southern California ratepayers, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, conservationists, Delta businesses and Southern California water ratepayers. … ” Read more from the Daily Kos.
From the archives …
This is not the first time DWR has filed this action. Here’s an archive of coverage of the bond validation action:
DELTA COUNTIES COALITION: Statement on Appellate Court Rejection of Delta Tunnel Financing
From the Delta Counties Coalition: The Delta Counties Coalition (DCC) welcomes the opinion by the Third District Court of Appeal, which upheld the lower court’s ruling that the State of California lacks legal authority to issue billions of dollars in bonds to finance the proposed Delta tunnel project without explicit legislative approval. This decision affirms what Delta communities, counties, and local agencies have raised for years: that a project of this scale, cost, and consequence cannot be advanced through administrative maneuvering […]
PRESS RELEASE: Siding with counties and other opponents, Court Of Appeal affirms decision rejecting DWR’s unlawful attempt to validate bond financing for Delta Tunnel Project
On December 31, 2025, the Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District affirmed a trial court decision against the State Department of Water Resources (DWR), which sought to validate bond resolutions and revenue pledges to finance DWR’s controversial Delta Tunnel project known as the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP). The DCP, like its failed predecessors, would divert water from the Sacramento River by way of massive intakes near the town of Hood in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, for export chiefly […]
COURTHOUSE NEWS: California appellate court upholds bar on revenue bonds for Delta Program
The panel agreed with a trial judge that Water Resources hadn’t met its burden to show the controversial project qualifies as a modification of the existing infrastructure for which the department has authority to issue bonds. By Edvard Pettersson, Courthouse News Service The California Court of Appeals on Wednesday affirmed a judge’s ruling that the state’s Department of Water Resources can’t issue bonds to fund the controversial Delta Conveyance Project — a proposed 14-mile tunnel that would divert water from […]
LEGAL ALERT: Court of Appeal Affirms Trial Court’s Rejection of Financing Scheme for Delta Conveyance Project
From Somach Simmons & Dunn: “On December 31, 2025, the Third District Court of Appeal issued an opinion rejecting the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) attempt to validate its authority to issue revenue bonds for the planning, acquisition, and construction of the “Delta Program.” DWR must now find alternative means to fund its proposed Delta Conveyance Project, estimated to cost anywhere from $20 to $100 billion. In 2020, DWR adopted three bond resolutions (Bond Resolutions) purporting to authorize revenue bond […]
DWR: Securing Statewide Water Supplies Part 1: California’s Water Future is in Jeopardy
From the Department of Water Resources: California is expected to lose 10% of its water supply by 2040 due to climate change, and the State Water Project could lose up to 23% of its delivery capability. Our precipitation patterns and hydrology are becoming increasingly extreme and unpredictable, meaning a future of longer and more severe dry periods mixed with big but infrequent storms that produce high flows. These changing conditions are problematic as current State Water Project (SWP) infrastructure and operations are unable to […]
View all posts on bond validation actions.
