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Biden says debt ceiling agreement gets reached Bloomberg News

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS file (2021)

A kayaker enjoys Lake Oroville when the water stood at at 33% full and 40% of historical average in June 2021.

Audit finds state’s water agency not accurate on supply numbers Tribune Content Agency LOS ANGELES — The state auditor has issued a report strongly criticizing the California Department of Water Resources, saying the agency has overestimated the state’s water supply during drought and continues relying on forecasts that don’t adequately factor in the effects of climate change. The report by State Auditor Grant Parks said the Department of Water Resources has “made only limited progress” in improving its water-supply forecasts to account for climate change, despite acknowledging more than a decade ago that it needed to improve its forecasting methods. The audit also concluded that DWR “has not developed a comprehensive, long-term plan” for the State Water Project, the system

that delivers water from Northern California to Southern California and supplies almost 27 million Californians, to proactively respond to more severe droughts. The auditor said that in 2021, amid the driest three-year period on record, DWR significantly overestimated the state’s water supply. In February of that year, the report said, the department projected that runoff would be at least twice the volume that actually flowed in the majority of the watersheds that are included in forecasts. “DWR has continued to rely heavily on historical climate data when developing its forecasts,” the auditor said in the report. “DWR has since begun planning to adapt its forecasting model and associated procedures, but it could better ensure that it is using the best approach available if it adopted a

formal process for evaluating the quality of its forecasts.” The audit found that significant errors in runoff forecasts can cause problems for other water agencies. For example, it said that in 2021 the department’s overestimate of inflow into Folsom Lake meant that El Dorado Irrigation District “had to forego diverting water into storage that it would have otherwise been able to capture in its reservoir.” The report noted that California endured the driest three-year period on record from 2020 through 2022, followed this year by heavy rain, snow and flooding. It pointed out that scientists project global warming will cause more extreme fluctuations in severe weather, including prolonged drought.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said he and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a final agreement to avert a historic U.S. default after the two spoke again Sunday afternoon. “We’ve got good news. I’ve just spoken with Speaker McCarthy. We have a bipartisan budget agreement,” Biden said to reporters at the White House. He urged both chambers of Congress to pass the legislation. Both Biden and McCarthy now have to convince their allies to support the package, while tamping down frustrations on the left and right wings of their respective parties. Despite reaching a deal, the clock is ticking. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Friday

that the government’s borrowing limit must be extended by June 5 to avoid a payments default. Biden complimented McCarthy for keeping his word in the talks but said “I have no idea if he has the votes.” “I expect he does. I don’t think he would have made the agreement” otherwise, he added. Biden this month cut short a planned trip from the G7 leaders summit in Hiroshima, Japan, to Papua New Guinea and Sydney, Australia, to tend to the negotiations. The Pacific region is vital to U.S. foreign policy to confront China’s growing influence. The president brushed off assertions that debt ceiling talks that have gone essentially down to the wire – with the global See Debt, Page A7

See Water, Page A7 Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS file

Counties face the unknown in launching mental illness court Tribune Content Agency LOS ANGELES — In four months, the gavel will fall, and the state’s first CARE Courts will be in session. Seven counties opted for an Oct. 1 rollout of the law that orders each county to create special courts, whose judges have the authority to order voluntary treatment plans for individuals with untreated schizophrenia and related disorders. The CARE Act, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last Septem-

ber, requires counties to come up with the bureaucratic mechanisms that will support the goal of easing an epidemic of severe mental illness on the streets and in communities. “We’re deep in the weeds, thinking about what will be the daily lives of the people who engage in this work,” said Luke Bergmann, the behavioral health director for San Diego County. Among the many challenges of the CARE Act is developing a manageable workflow for

disparate groups. For every individual appearing in the court, there will be the clerks who processed the petitions that initiated the proceedings, the outreach teams that found the individual and served the paperwork, the psychiatrists who prepared a treatment plan, defense attorneys who will represent the individual, behavioral health clinicians who will present the plan and the judges who will negotiate its implementation. In addition, there

will be insurance companies that pay for the plan, administrators who manage the paperwork associated with the plan and healthcare providers who execute the plan. The first group – San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco, Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Glenn – reflects the geographic and demographic diversity of California. Their courts will serve as a template for Los Angeles and the 50 other counties. (L.A. County See Court, Page A7

After ups and downs, Pelosi has won over California Democrats Tribune Content Agency LOS ANGELES — Even before former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made her first appearance at the California Democratic Party convention this weekend, she was an inescapable presence, dangling in cartoon form off the shoulders of the party’s politicians and most dedicated activists. The official swag bag – a canvas tote illustrating Pelosi’s instantly memeable furious clapping

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during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address – was the most colorful tribute to the San Francisco congresswoman, but it was hardly the only one. Between an ecstatic ovation for her brief Saturday-morning address and the ballroom-size dinner held in her honor that evening, the party’s first in-person gathering since 2019 was an unabashed love letter to one of the state’s most See Pelosi, Page A7

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Dr. David P. Simon, MD, FACS.

Sandra Ritchey-Butler Expires 7/1/2023

U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, departs the House Chamber following a vote in Washington, D.C., in April.

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