The Pros And Cons Of Proposition 84

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In November of 2006, 54 percent of the voters in California passed what was known as Proposition 84. Proposition 84, otherwise known as, the Safe Drinking Water Bond Act, “Authorizes $5,388,000,000 in general obligation bonds to fund projects relating to water quality, supply, flood control, waterway and natural resource protection, water pollution and contamination control, state and local park improvements, public access to natural resources and conservations efforts” (Kerns).
With that being said, the $5.4 billion dollars delegated from the general obligation bonds will be divided up among special interest water programs (Bond Accountability). According to the proposal, about $1.5 million dollars will be used for water quality assurance. …show more content…

Meanwhile, the Kimball Petition Management Company was paid over a billion dollars to collect signatures. Even though there were enough signatures collected, the passing of any initiative is going to be surround with issues. Proposition 84 was presented with an ongoing battle for supporters. With that being said, there were many arguments from those in favor and those against proposition 84. The initial argument in favor of the proposition mentioned the fact that California is already a huge state, population wise, and is continuously growing. This growth is scary in terms of water use. The proposition states that it wants to protect the quality of the water we drink, by assuring that it is chemical and contamination free. Not only that, but the argument states that California needs a reliable water supply, and this measure is said to provide California with the ability to do so. Those who were supporters of the initiative included; Mark Burget, Larry Wilson, the Chair on the Board of Firectors for the Santa Clara Valley Water district, Richard Brown, who was a Professor at the School of Public Health, Erich Pfuehlet, the Director of Clean Water Action, Jeff Kightlinger, a Manager of Metropolitan Water District and lastly, Kaitlin Gaffney, the Conservation Director of Ocean …show more content…

These areas may include eligibility of private water companies, because the proposition does not specify if the private water companies are eligible for grants and loans to maintain water quality. Also, the flood control projects are a concern, because again the measure does not state whether the funding is obtainable for any flood control project statewide. In addition, further legislative guidance may be needed for Greening Projects, Storm water Contaminations, Groundwater Contaminations and administrative costs. “Proposition 84 caps administrative costs at 5 percent of funds allocated to any program, however, it does not provide a definition of a program or a definition for what is to be included in the administrative costs” (Proposition 84). Other than an implementation of legislation, there are other impacts of the measure that will be placed on the state and local governments. These main impacts include, the actual Annual Bond Costs, the Property taxes, and additional operational costs. Bond costs will be paid over a period of 30 years, and the interest rate on average would be about 5%, therefore, the $5.4 billion dollars would actually total out to be $10.5 billion dollars, after the interest rate. Thus, in order to pay off the bonds, the average payment would be about $350 million dollars per

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