This November, California voters will decide the fate of 10 ballot propositions and select the next president. One of those is Proposition 4, a bond measure that would authorize $10 billion in debt to spend on environmental and climate projects, with a focus on lower-income communities and those most vulnerable to climate change.
“This investment is critical to communities of color, particularly Latino communities up and down the State of California that have seen disproportionate impacts related to extreme heat. The drought. The wildfires,” said Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia, one of the primary authors of the climate bond.
In recent years, environmental advocates have been calling for an increase in state spending on climate change, especially after Gov. Gavin Newsome and the Legislature scaled back previously approved climate spending this year.
Ivana Chacon Suarez, a youth leader with Outdoor Outreach, said that everyone deserves access to a healthy environment and a better climate future.
“The fight against climate change is really an act of love,” said Suarez. “Prop. 4 … will be an effort towards the tomorrow that lasts us, that lasts generations after us, that gives our children the chance to grow.”
The state pays for climate activities and natural resources in a variety of ways. Sometimes it uses money it already has, and in other cases, the state uses bonds – borrowing money that is paid back over time with interest.
According to a legislative analysis, repaying the bond for Prop 4 could cost $400 million a year over 40 years, meaning taxpayers could end up spending $16 billion.
Although costly, proponents of the bill say it’s a necessary cost we must bear now.
“The impacts of doing nothing, are far more costly, not only just on human life, but also on our economy and other circumstances in the state,” said Garcia.
The Bond Breakdown
The $10 billion bond would be spent in eight key areas: $3.8 billion on drought, flood and water supply; $1.5 billion on forest health and wildfire prevention; $1.2 billion on sea-level rise and coastal areas; $1.2 billion on land conservation and habitat restoration; $850 million on energy infrastructure; $700 million on parks; $450 million on extreme heat; and $300 million on farms and agriculture.
The two primary areas receiving the bulk of investment are water infrastructure and wildfire prevention. Roughly half of the money spent on water, $1.9 billion, would be used to improve drinking water.
According to the State Water Board, nearly one million Californians lack access to drinking water that meets safety and reliability standards.
“We know that the lack of safe drinking water has significant impacts on the public health and well-being of Californians,” said Garcia. He added that Prop 4 would be a step towards funding “infrastructure to be built out, to ensure that Californians have safe, clean, affordable water to drink, up and down the State of California.”
Garcia pointed out that the portion of the bond earmarked for extreme heat ($450 million) would be used in communities like the San Fernando Valley, which is “one of the hottest areas in the Los Angeles area, and has seen some record-breaking temperatures in the last few years.”
This effort would include adding trees and greenspaces ($200 million), supporting places for people to go during heatwaves or disasters ($100 million) and local grants for benefits such as reducing air pollution ($150 million).
An Environmental Justice Approach
“The impacts of climate have a direct impact on many other circumstances in our community, whether they’re economic, whether they’re social, and for that matter, the public health component,” said Garcia.
Prop 4 requires that bond money be used in prescriptive ways. At least 40% of the bond money must be used to directly benefit lower-income communities or regions that are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It also requires regular public reporting of how the money is spent.
“Public health is connected to the environmental justice issue in California,” said Garcia. “The policy [is] centered around these investments, that are intentional in nature – to go to specific communities, specific organizations that are doing some of this work throughout California.”
Some of the bond money would be administered by state agencies to spend on state-run activities, but the majority of the funds would be used for loans and grants to local governments, Native American tribes, non-for-profit organizations and businesses.
Organizations already working on solutions for climate issues locally – such as the Yurok Tribe which manages over 1,000 acres in Northern California – would receive more funding to bolster their efforts.
“The Yurok Tribe’s really at the front lines, in a lot of ways, on climate change. We’ve seen a lot of effects here in our area,” said Tim Hayden, deputy Executive Director of Natural Resources for the Yurok Tribe. “Effects from ongoing droughts and just the ecological effects upon the river.”
The tribe works to protect waterways and the salmon population, and with the local community and CalFire to develop projects that increase resiliency to wildfires.
“[The tribe] sees itself as a steward of the river and the lands,” said Hayden. “We see the Prop 4 initiative as a wise investment over time. It’ll help disadvantaged communities develop that internal capacity, professionally and technically, and really help build those partnerships to do some great work out on the landscape.”