Nevada City, CA —
Californians went to the polls on Tuesday November 7 and voted to invest billions of dollars in the future of the states roads, houses, schools, levees, parks and natural resources. In addition, they voted down Proposition 90, a measure that would have severely restricted local government planning.
The Sierra Fund helped support the passage of Proposition 84 with a grant of $8,484.84. This Proposition authorizes the selling of bonds to fund a number of Sierra purposes including:
$54 million for the Sierra Nevada Conservancy
$36 million for the California Tahoe Conservancy
$74 million for River Parkways grant programs
$450 million for forests and wildlife
$90 million for sustainable communities
Proposition 84 won along the coast, but was voted down in every rural county, including the entire Sierra Nevada and Central Valley. The Sierra Fund is working with a coalition of Sierra conservation organizations to ensure that some of these funds are invested in this region. For a complete map of results, check this link: http://vote.ss.ca.gov/Returns/prop/mapR084.htm
The bond measures 1B – 1E also passed throughout the state, with varying support around the state. Proposition 1E, the “Disaster/Flood” bond, won in most rural areas, including a significant majority in Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Fresno, Kern and Merced Counties. For all bond results, check this link: http://vote.ss.ca.gov/Returns/prop/00.htm#Races
Finally, the people of California “thumped” Proposition 90, including defeats in the Sierra counties of Mariposa, Inyo and Mono Counties and only narrow passage in Tulare and Alpine County's. To see how Prop 90 fared in your county, visit the Secretary of State's interactive map at http://vote.ss.ca.gov/Returns/prop/mapR090.htm
The Sierra Nevada Alliance's Autumn Bernstein notes “Even in Sierra counties where Prop 90 passed, know that your efforts were still critically important to the statewide effort. Prop 90 lost by 300,000 votes out of 6 million votes cast statewide, so every single vote in every single county, red or blue, made a difference.”
Bernstein further commented that “It is still unclear how similar measures did in states around the country. Voters in Idaho and Washington appear to have rejected their Prop 90 look-alikes. But it appears that measures passed in Arizona, Michigan, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Nevada and Oregon (yes, Oregon passed an amendment that makes their existing Measure even worse). However, some of these measures — including Nevada's — were really just about eminent domain, and didn't contain the dangerous provisions that California's did.”