What To Know About Prop 4
10/16/2024 | 1m 50sVideo has Closed Captions
Prop 4 would allow CA to borrow $10 billion for essential environmental and climate projects.
Prop 4 would let California borrow $10 billion for urgent environmental projects, prioritizing low-income, climate-vulnerable areas. Funds would go toward clean water, wildfire prevention, and heat protection. Supporters cite climate urgency, while opponents argue bonds are costly for taxpayers.
SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal
What To Know About Prop 4
10/16/2024 | 1m 50sVideo has Closed Captions
Prop 4 would let California borrow $10 billion for urgent environmental projects, prioritizing low-income, climate-vulnerable areas. Funds would go toward clean water, wildfire prevention, and heat protection. Supporters cite climate urgency, while opponents argue bonds are costly for taxpayers.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipMore intense heat waves, devastating floods, ferocious wildfires.
Californians can't escape the effects of climate change.
At the same time, nearly one million of them still don't have clean drinking water.
That's why environmental groups are pushing for a surge in state funding.
If a majority of voters say yes, Proposition 4 would authorize $10 billion in bonds to fund environmental and climate projects across the state.
The measure would give priority to lower-income communities and those most vulnerable to climate change.
The biggest chunk of bond money, $1.9 billion, would go to improving drinking water.
Money would also go to wildfire prevention and extreme heat projects, natural lands, and parks, coastal protection, clean energy initiatives, and even agricultural improvements.
In total, the cost to taxpayers would be $400 million a year over the next 40 years, meaning we could end up spending $16 billion in the long run, according to the state's nonpartisan legislative analyst.
Why now?
Well, the environmental groups and renewable .. have been pushing to spend more, especially after the state scaled back its original climate spending plan.
Governor Gavin Newsom and the legislature approved the California Climate Commitment in 2022, but since have scaled it back by nearly $10 billion after the state faced a massive deficit.
Supporters say threats posed by wildfires, water pollution, and extreme heat are too urgent not to act, but opponents warn that bonds are the most expensive way for the government to pay for these projects.
They argue that California should find other ways to finance these initiatives without taking on more debt, so vote yes if you support borrowing $10 billion in bonds for climate and environmental projects, or vote no if you don't.
SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal