Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued the following statement today after President Barack Obama announced new actions and investments to support workers, farmers and rural communities suffering from drought and to combat wildfires, including $18 million for the State of California to provide jobs for workers dislocated by the drought:

“The drought has caused more than half a million acres to be fallowed and thousands of farm jobs to disappear. This aid will provide new opportunities for farmworkers and rural communities most impacted by the drought and make the state more water-efficient and drought resilient.”

Governor Brown attended the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Board meeting earlier this week and met with South Bay water leaders in San Jose last week. He has also convened mayors, business leaders and top agricultural, environmental and urban water agency officials from across California to discuss the state's drought and water conservation efforts.

For more than two years, the state's experts have been managing water resources to deal with the effects of the drought and prepare for the next one. In April, Governor Brown announced the first ever 25 percent statewide mandatory water reductions and a series of actions to help save water, increase enforcement to prevent wasteful water use, streamline the state's drought response and invest in new technologies that will make California more drought resilient.