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 financing for the “Delta Program,” defined in the Bond Resolutions as “facilities for the conveyance of water in, about and through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, subject to such further specification thereof as [DWR] in its discretion may adopt.” DWR concurrently filed a validation action (Validation Action) seeking a judicial determination that DWR’s Bond Resolutions intending to authorize the issuance of bonds are valid, legal, and binding. A geographically and ideologically diverse group of parties, including Delta public agencies, State Water Project contractors north and south of the Delta, environmental and non-governmental organizations, filed answers opposing the Validation Action. These opponents challenged the legality of DWR’s adoption of the Bond Resolutions and, in part, the scope of DWR’s authority to adopt the Delta Program as a “further modification” of a component of the State Water Project, specifically, the Feather River Project. … ”
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