COME TALK DRUGS — Join POLITICO Tuesday at the Elks Tower in Sacramento for a conversation on prescription drug affordability with CAITLIN BERRY, of pharmacy benefit management company Prime Therapeutics; ROBIN FELDMAN, UCSF law professor; ANTHONY WRIGHT, executive director of Health Access California; and state Sen. SCOTT WIENER. How might officials find savings in the drug supply chain ecosystem? Doors open at 8:30 a.m. RSVP here for “Corrective Action: How to Address Prescription Drug Cost.”
THINKING ABOUT TOMORROW: The drought may be over but its legacy lingers.
Despite back-to-back wet winters, California’s water regulator is working to finalize permanent rules for urban water conservation first imposed by legislation during the height of the drought in 2018. The Association of California Water Agencies has complained about the deadlines and costs of the proposed rules, saying they will hit those least able to pay the hardest. Environmentalists want even more conservation as protection from a hotter, drier future because of climate change. “We have a lot of tools to address the large and growing gap between supply and demand, and I know the smartest thing to do first is the one that is fastest and cheapest, and that's conservation,” said Tracy Quinn, the president and CEO of Heal the Bay, in a press call last week. The two camps are set to duke it out at a State Water Resources Control Board workshop on Wednesday. They’ll do so against a backdrop of almost-abundance of water. After a dry start to the season, the state’s snowpack, which usually hits its peak around April 1, is at 103 percent of average for this date. Reservoir levels are, on average, 116 percent of average. Only a small portion of the state is “abnormally dry,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and none of it is in drought. Californians are broadly supportive of the idea of conservation: A survey ordered by Southern California’s largest water supplier showed last week that “90% of respondents agree it’s important to conserve water every day, whether or not the region is in drought, and 75% are willing to do more to conserve than they’re doing currently,” according to a press release. And lawmakers have been steadily chipping away at water waste; last year, a bill by Assemblymember Laura Friedman banned ornamental grass (though it stopped way short of banning lawns at private homes). But the idea is a little harder to sell without the immediacy of a drought. The State Water Resources Control Board last week proposed delaying some of its urban conservation requirements to make it easier on cities after a scathing rebuke from legislative advisers who said the rules were too burdensome. “Conservation is a key tool to help the state better manage our diminishing water supply in a new climate reality,” said Eric Oppenheimer, the board’s executive director, in a press release last week. “The changes to the draft regulation propose a way to do this that maintains the state’s commitment to conservation while making it easier for water suppliers to meet their efficiency goals.” The Board also denied a petition from environmentalists last month to set minimum flow requirements for two Northern California rivers, despite an ongoing effort to make emergency limits it set for the rivers permanent in some way. IT’S MONDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to cvonkaenel@politico.com or send a shout on X. DMs are open.
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