(Bay City News) - A $10 billion statewide bond measure that would fund a range of environmental resilience and other projects will appear on the November ballot after the passage this week of a bill to place it before voters.
Major projects funded by the bond revenue would include drinking water infrastructure and wildfire prevention.
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Passed as Senate Bill 867 on Wednesday, it was numbered by the end of the day by Secretary of State Shirley Weber as Proposition 4. It was one of 10 propositions numbered for the statewide ballot in November, including a separate bond measure for K-12 school infrastructure.
Prop. 4, formally titled the “Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024,” would raise $3.8 billion for drinking water, drought, flood and water resiliency.
The bill was introduced by multiple legislators and supported by scores of environmental groups, including a coalition called Climate Bond Now that was formed to advocate for its passage. The coalition includes the nonprofits Environmental Defense Fund, Community Water Center, Sonoma Land Trust, and others.
One of the bill’s co-authors, state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, said if the state doesn’t invest in climate resilience now, it will end up costing more in the future.
Read more here.