Late-Night Session Delivers New Water Bond
$7.5 Billion Package will be Prop. 1 on November Ballot
The Governor signed AB 1471, by Assembly Member Anthony Rendon, late Wednesday night replacing the previous $11.1 billion water bond with a $7.5 billion proposal that proponents say has a better chance of passing. The measure will be Proposition 1 on the November ballot.
The comprehensive water bond deal comes after months of back and forth between Democrats and Republicans on a measure that required a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.
According to supporters, which includes a long list of business, labor, agriculture & environmental groups, this 2014 Water Bond is critically needed to improve California’s water supply reliability and will help fund the implementation of a comprehensive water program so that a more reliable water supply is available for the public, the environment, agriculture and business.
The bond includes $7.12 billion in new debt, plus the repurposing of existing unspent bond funds of $425 million for a total of $7.545 billion. None of the repurposed bond funds would be taken from existing projects.
The framework for the package includes:
- Safe Drinking Water and Wastewater Management-$520 million
- Watershed Protection, including funding for state obligations (multi-party settlements)-$1.495 billion
- Integrated Regional Water Management, Water Conservation and Stormwater Capture-$810 million
- Storage-$2.70 billion, continuously appropriated
- Recycling-$725 million
- Groundwater Cleanup and Sustainable Groundwater Management-$900 million
- Flood Management-$395 million
- TOTAL-$7.545 billion
Last week, the CSAC Executive Committee approved a set of water bond principles that will guide the CSAC Agriculture, Environment & Natural Resources (AENR) Policy Committee in their recommendation to the CSAC Board of Directors. The revamped bond is generally consistent with our principles, including funding for surface and groundwater storage, groundwater cleanup and management, funding for watershed management activities, funding for small and disadvantaged communities, funding for Integrated Regional Water Management programs, and protections for area of origin and existing water rights.
The AENR Policy Committee will take the bond up for consideration and a recommendation to the CSAC Board of Directors on September 3, 2014. If you are interested in participating in that meeting, please contact Cara Martinson, CSAC Legislative Representative at cmartinson@counties.org
The CSAC Board of Directors will take the bond up for consideration on Thursday, September 4th.