Sacramento, CA —
Any hope of putting a bond with funding for natural resource investments on the June 2006 ballot has ended. The legislature and the Governor failed to win any agreement around placing a bond on the June ballot with funding for parks, integrated water planning, or the Sierra Conservancy.
There continue to be talks in the legislature about putting an “infrastructure” bond on the November 2006 general election ballot. The current belief is that this infrastructure bond will focus on levee repair and flood management, school construction and modernization, and transportation projects.
Fortunately, a citizen's alternative initiative has begun gathering signatures to place a water bond on the ballot in November. The bond, which totals $5,388,000,000, is called “The Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Act of 2006.”
Highlights of the water bond include:
- Conservancy earmarks – $54 million for the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, $36M for the Tahoe Conservancy, $36M for San Joaquin Conservancy.
- Water Quality earmarks – 1 billion for delivery of safe drinking water and protection of water quality – earmarked by hydrologic region: $73M for Sacramento River, $57M for San Joaquin River, $27M for Lohantan (north & south) $100M for multiregional needs or issues of statewide importance.
- Other items – $580M for sustainable communities and climate change reduction, $800M for infrastructure improvements related to water quality.
Language of the water bond that was submitted to the CA Attorney General's can be found at this link:
http://caag.state.ca.us/initiatives/pdf/sa2005rf0131.pdf