Special to the Vanguard
Sacramento, CA – Assemblymembers Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City) and Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) announced an agreement with the Senate on a historic $10 billion climate resilience bond expected to appear on the 2024 November ballot.
The details of the agreement will be amended into SB 867 (Allen)—the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024—which must be passed by the Legislature next week to meet the deadline for the ballot.
Wilson and Garcia, who have served as co-leads on the Assembly climate bond working group, are joint authors on the measure. The climate bond working group consisted of Assemblymembers Dawn Addis (D-San Luis Obispo), Isaac Bryan (D-Culver City), Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael), Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara), Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine), Esmeralda Soria (D-Merced), Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles).
“Our historically underserved communities on the front lines of the climate crisis could not afford to wait any longer, requiring us to move with urgency to strengthen California climate resiliency. We thank our Assembly Speaker, Senate President pro Tempore, and all of our colleagues whose leadership and contributions ensured that this bond reflects the most urgent needs of diverse regions across our state,” said Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), co-author of the legislation.
Garcia added, “Our climate bond agreement takes action with an equity-focused investment plan to protect Californians suffering the real-time devastating and often deadly consequences of climate change. These crucial investments allow us to improve safe drinking water and air quality, prevent and prepare for future disasters like wildfires and drought, and accelerate our renewable energy goals while creating crucial jobs and economic opportunities.”
“California faces dire challenges from climate change, and SB 867 (Allen) represents a decisive step towards securing our future,” said Assemblywoman Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City), a co-author of the legislation. “This climate bond firmly invests in our future by prioritizing critical needs such as safe and affordable drinking water access, wildfire prevention, extreme heat mitigation, sustainable agriculture, and clean, renewable energy. Importantly, it addresses the unique issues facing communities that have been historically overlooked, ensuring geographical equity. These investments are imperative for safeguarding our communities and environment.”
SB 867 commits $10 billion toward climate resilience with a particular focus on disadvantaged communities that are often the hardest hit by the effects of climate change. The climate bond would make significant investments to urgently address major risks posed by the growing climate crisis, such as access to safe and affordable drinking water, flood risk, wildfire prevention, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, sea level rise, extreme heat, biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, among other issues, providing critical solutions to meet the needs of our climate reality and to protect our most vulnerable population by dedicating 40 percent, at minimum, of all bond funds toward disadvantaged communities.
The bond contains eight chapters with billions of dollars of investment aimed at addressing the state’s most critical needs as it relates to the climate crisis. Specifically, the bond contains:
- $3.8 billion for Safe Drinking Water, Drought, Flood, and Water Resilience
- $1.5 billion for Wildfire and Forest Resilience
- $1.2 billion for Sea Level Rise and Coastal Resilience
- $1.2 billion for Protecting Biodiversity and Accelerating Nature-Based Climate Solutions
- $850 million for Park Creation and Outdoor Access
- $700 million for Park Creation and Outdoor Access
- $450 million for Extreme Heat Mitigation
- $300 million for Climate Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Farms, Ranches, and Working Lands
In my opinion this has the smell of a giant boondoggle/slush fund in the name of climate change.
Climate Resilience Bond = Bullet Train to Nowhere II?
Or the $7.5 billion State Prop 1 Water Bond II where nothing has been built since it passed 10 years ago.
Keith O
Almost all of the $7.5B in bond funds have been committed. Of the $2.7B for water storage projects, most of these are already under construction. The biggest, Sites, recent garnered its approval to move forward. For many of these which involve multiple government partners, the delay has been getting cost share funding approval from those agencies. Sites is a salient example of this. And then the construction of such large projects takes years.
https://bondaccountability.resources.ca.gov/p1.aspx