-California lawmakers from both parties are up in arms over Governor Gavin Newsom's latest proposal to use the budget process to fast-track the Delta Tunnel, a deeply controversial $20 billion plan to replumb the estuary and funnel more water south.

"We're done with barriers," Newsom said in a statement in May.

"Our state needs to complete this project as soon as possible so that we can better store and manage water to prepare for a hotter, drier future."

Delta counties warned Newsom and legislative leaders in the letter that every city and county affected by this project in the Delta region opposes the tunnel.

Malissa Tayaba, vice chair of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians and director of traditional knowledge, said the tunnel threatens their homelands and would desecrate the resting place of their ancestors.

-We will not only lose access to our homelands that we have cared for and stewarded from time immemorial, but we would also lose our Delta estuary, already in crisis, and the ecocultural systems it maintains.

-Environmental advocates say the governor's proposal is an end run around laws and court decisions that could affect environmental protections beyond the Delta.

The project's goal is to increase exports of Northern California water south during wet years, much of it to supply cities in Southern California and farms in the San Joaquin Valley.

It's also supposed to shore up the supply against earthquakes or other disasters.

Newsom's proposal would shorten the timeline to resolve challenges in court, limit injunctions against construction activities unless they present an imminent threat to public health and safety, and alter some procedures and oversight for acquiring properties under eminent domain.

Water agencies in the Bay Area and Southern California applauded Newsom's proposals, saying they would cut costs and shorten the timeline for the project and make their water supply more reliable in a time of climate change.

For CalMatters, I'm Rachel Becker.