Proposition 4 is among the 10 statewide ballot measures that San Diego County voters will get to weigh in on this fall. Here’s what you need to know about it.
What would it do?
Proposition 4 proposes the state borrow $10 billion to fund a series of climate projects.
Of this amount, $3.8 billion would be spent on developing safe drinking water initiatives and drought and flood resilience programs.
Another $1.5 billion would go toward wildfire prevention efforts, including grants for local and state agencies, watershed restorations and forest health improvements. Coastal resilience programs combating sea-level rise would also receive $1.2 billion.
Among the many environmental groups around the state that would get funding for their projects, the San Diego Rivers Conservancy would receive millions of dollars to bolster wildfire prevention while expanding workforce opportunities for disadvantaged communities.
The proposition would also fund parks, zoos, aquariums, sustainable farms, extreme heat action plans and clean air initiatives.
RELATED LINKS
- Your guide to Proposition 5, California’s measure to make it easier to local bonds
- Your guide to Proposition 3, which could add same-sex marriage to the California constitution
- Your guide to Proposition 2, California’s $10 billion school bond measure
- Your guide to Measure G, San Diego County’s half-cent transportation sales tax increase
Why is this on the ballot?
Largely because of state budget cuts to climate funding.
In recent years, California has taken a front-row seat to the accelerating effects of climate change. It’s left the state to fend off wildfires, droughts, floods and severe heat levels all together.
Without change, the cost of climate change to the Golden State is projected to soar to $113 billion per year by 2050, according to a recent climate assessment by the California Natural Resources Agency.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued reports and executive orders to help chart out the state’s climate resiliency plans and funnel investments.
But he also cut the state’s multi-year climate budget to bridge a deficit. If voters Prop. 4, the new source of funding would unlock new channels for local agencies to chip away at the statewide movement.
Who s it, and why?
Multiple environmental protection groups, water agencies and renewable energy companies the proposal.
If ed, the proposition would inch them closer to their long-term goals of protecting the environment and warding off the effects of climate change.
Who opposes it, and why?
Taxpayers would pay back the bond with interest over time, hiking the proposition’s cost.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a nonprofit lobbying organization, predicts the proposal “will be paid by people decades from now that didn’t even get to vote for their authorization.”
