Action Guide March 7, 2000

DESCRIPTION

Proposition 13 is a bond measure that will authorize $1.97 billion in general obligation bonds, with $250 million of the total dedicated to carrying out the CALFED Bay-Delta Plan. The funds will be used to improve the safety, quality and reliability of water supplies for Californians, to improve flood protection, and to protect watersheds for people and wildlife, and to help California manage droughts without building new surface storage. It includes projects that:

• clean up and prevent pollution of groundwater
• protect and restore fisheries and wildlife habitat along rivers and streams
• reduce contamination of the ocean, lakes, rivers and streams by curbing non-point source pollution
• protect land that preserves drinking water quality
• improve California's ability to manage more drought conditions through conservation, recycling, reclamation and groundwater storage
• control pollution that contaminates coastal waters, bays and beaches
• provide environmentally friendly, common sense flood protection by avoiding development in the path of floods
• repair and replace old and deteriorating pipes and other equipment that threaten drinking water quality
• create river parkways for recreation and habitat
• restore coastal salmon habitat
• restore urban streams.

BACKGROUND

The state provides loans and grants to local agencies for a number of water-related purposes, with the funding coming mainly from bond measures. All but about $11 million of the funds authorized by previous bond acts for safe drinking water projects has been spent or committed to projects. Funds for flood control have come from local, state and federal sources, with the state's share coming primarily from the General Fund. The $60 million in flood-control bond funding from Proposition 204 of 1996 has been spent, and the state owes about $130 million for its share of local projects. As of June 1999, about $415 million of Proposition 204 funds for ecosystem restoration and other improvements in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuary remained available for projects. Overall, more than $5 billion will be needed for the joint state/federal CALFED Bay-Delta Program. The state has sold bonds for other projects to improve water quality and water supply, but only about $100 million of that money has not been spent or committed. Funds are also needed for watershed protection.

IMPORTANT POINTS

• Water quality in California continues to be a problem. Drainage from old mines contaminates our drinking water. Sewage fouls our rivers, streams, and beaches. Contaminants such as pesticides and others are reducing the viability of our water supplies. The water bond will fund improved source protection and treatment of our water supply, watershed restoration, and reduction of "non-point source" pollution.

• Fish, wildlife and people all depend on healthy streams. The bond act creates programs to restore stream water quality, protect and restore watersheds, restore urban streams, and promote wildlife-friendly flood corridors.

• The bond act improves water supply reliability by producing almost 1 million acre feet of new water supply in dry years from "soft path" actions such as watershed management, groundwater management, water conservation and water recycling.

• Many of the elements in the water bond encourage the planning and management of a variety of water supply resources with emphasis on non-structural alternatives, such as conservation and recycling, a recurrent LWVC theme in management of the state's water resources. A list of the specific elements is attached.

The rebuttal to the opposition arguments was signed by Larry McCarthy, President, California Taxpayers' Association; Jim Costa, Chairman, Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee; and Michael J. Machado, Chairman, Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.

Other supporters mentioned in the ballot arguments include Association of California Water Agencies, Agricultural Council of California, Audubon Society, League of Women Voters, California Business Roundtable, National Wildlife Foundation, California Manufacturers Association, Planning and Conservation League, California State Association of Counties, California State Council of Laborers, Southern California Water Committee, and Northern California Water Association.

RESOURCES

Californians for Safe, Clean, Reliable Water, Yes on Proposition 13, 916-484-3725, www.prop13.org

SPECIFIC PROJECTS FUNDED BY PROPOSITION 13

• $70 million for the Safe Drinking Water Program to provide funding for the improvement of urban drinking water supplies

• $90 million for the Watershed Protection Program to assist local agencies in implementing watershed plans that help restore fragile ecosystems

• $100 million for the Non-Point Source Pollution Control Program to provide funding for local projects that reduce pollution and protect water quality by cleaning up contaminants and protecting lands around rivers, lakes, and streams

• $90 million for the Coastal Non-Point Source Pollution Control Program to provide loans to aid with projects to reduce pollution of coastal waters, bays and beaches

• $95 million for the River Protection Program to provide funding for the acquisition and restoration of streamside habitat, riverine aquatic habitat, and other lands close to rivers and streams

• $25 million for the Coastal Watershed Salmon Habitat Program to fund the protection, restoration, or acquisition of salmon habitat

• $250 million for the Bay/Delta Multi-Purpose Water Management Program to fund priority infrastructure improvement and fish protection projects

• $235 million for the Southern California Integrated Watershed Program to improve, rehabilitate and drought-proof the Santa Ana River Watershed

• $15 million for the Lake Elsinore and San Jacinto Watershed Program to improve and rehabilitate the Lake Elsinore and San Jacinto Watersheds

• $155 million for the Water Conservation Program to fund methods to conserve water used for both urban and agricultural purposes and groundwater recharge facilities

• $70 million for the Flood Protection Corridor Program to help local agencies acquire, restore, or protect land for flood protection, agricultural land preservation, and wildlife habitat protection

• $25 million for Urban Streams Restoration to fund small habitat restoration, flood protection and erosion control projects that typically include work by community conservation corps

• $90 million for the Yuba Feather Flood Protection Program

• $2 million for San Lorenzo River Flood Control

• $100 million for the Clean Water Program to provide state cost-share funding for important water quality projects promoted under the federal Clean Water Act

• $25 million for Seawater Intrusion Control to help protect groundwater quality in coastal communities

• $8 million for the Water and Watershed Education Program to fund various watershed education programs

• $200 million for new Groundwater Storage

• $180 million for the Interim Reliable Water Supply and Water Quality Infrastructure and Management Program to fund water supply and water quality projects in the San Joaquin Valley and southern California

• $40 million for the Water Recycling Program to help build facilities to produce and deliver recycled water

• $5 million for the Floodplain Mapping Program to assist local land use planning to avoid or reduce flood risks by locating and identifying floodplains

• $30 million for the Delta Levee Rehabilitation Program to fund the protection of Delta islands

• $45 million for Flood Control Subventions to fund the state's cost share of local flood protection projects
• $20 million for Capital Area Flood Protection to partially fund the state's share of the costs of federally-authorized flood management projects in Sacramento County

• $5 million for the Arroyo Pasajero Watershed Program to fund flood control projects protecting the California Aqueduct in the area of the Arroyo