[kittykat77]

And a few decades ago, the state built incredible large-scale public works to capture, store and deliver fresh water to the citizens as well as numerous power plants and transmission lines to assure a reliable supply of electricity.

Did California do that? Or are you thinking of the giant federal projects dating back to the 1930s?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Lots of California public-financed water projects and private utilities built their own infrastructure. There weren’t a lot of federal projects here like the Bonneville Power Authority and the TVA. Congress was involved, e.g., it passed an act (Raker) that allowed the building of the Hetch Hetchy dam.