AB 1032 Vetoed!

"We killed  Assembly Bill 1032!"

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I'm sure most of you have already heard that Governor Schwarzenegger has vetoed Assembly Bill 1032. This is a very big win for gold prospectors everywhere!

It was a very close race all the way to the finish line on this very harmful legislation; it could have gone either way at the last minute. Our lobbyist told me that the 1000+ emails and faxes that you guys (and gals) generated for our side during the last few days may have been what tipped the balance in our favor.

For those of you who responded to our Action Alerts, I thank you very much!

That's another very big win for our side!

I will follow with a more detailed report (from our lobbyist) in the upcoming newsletter. Then we can put this business behind us and get on with some exciting gold prospecting activity!!

I hope you guys are following the gold prices; they are going up, up, up! Hooray for us!!

We just finished our most productive season ever in The New 49'ers, with plenty of golden adventure -- a lot which has already been edited into exciting video segments. We will include those in upcoming newsletters.

For the moment, though, let's all just breathe a sigh of relief and give ourselves some well-deserved pats on the backs for overcoming that awful legislation.

Whew; that was a close one!

Here follows Governor Schwarzenegger's veto message:

To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 1032 without my signature.

The purpose of this bill is to protect fish and wildlife from the potential deleterious effects of suction dredge mining. Although I appreciate the author’s intent and the need to protect our fish, wildlife, and water resources, this bill is unnecessary.

Current law gives the Department of Fish and Game (Department) the necessary authority to protect fish and wildlife resources from suction dredge mining. It has promulgated regulations and issues permits for this activity. Permits for suction dredge mining must ensure that these operations are not deleterious to fish and allow the Department to specify the type and size of equipment to be used. In its regulations, the Department may also designate specific waters or areas that are closed to dredging.

It is unclear why this bill specifically targets a number of specific waterways for closure or further restrictions. The listed waterways represent only a small fraction of the waters in our State where suction dredging is occurring. The benefit or protection from such a minor closure is negligible and supports the notion that scientific environmental review should precede such decisions.

Sincerely,

Arnold Schwarzenegger