The Proposition 4 is a crucial piece of legislation for California, and it is essential for every individual to have a thorough understanding of it to make informed decisions during the November elections. However, there is a lack of information available in Spanish regarding this proposition.
When Radio Bilingüe invited me to discuss the facts surrounding Prop 4, I saw it as a great opportunity to provide our Latinx communities in California with the information that often does not reach them. Chelis López and the team at Línea Abierta are fantastic and provide high-quality independent information. The questions posed by Chelis are always insightful, although at times challenging to answer, so I always ensure to thoroughly prepare before these interviews. The recording of my interview (approximately 35 minutes) is available online on the Radio Bilingüe website. This blog is based on the questions from Chelis and the notes I took to prepare.
### What is Proposition 4 and how does it fit into the climate context of California?
In the current context of the climate crisis, California is facing unprecedented challenges that impact our infrastructure, natural resources, and communities, especially those already suffering from inequality and lack of resources. California has a Mediterranean climate that, like other parts of the world, is becoming increasingly extreme: wildfires, unbearable heatwaves, and water scarcity are some of the recurring issues exacerbated by climate change.
Proposition 4 aims to address these problems through a bond that would fund climate resilience and environmental justice projects.
Extreme heatwaves have become more frequent and dangerous. This year, approximately 1% of California’s land has already burned, costing billions of dollars from our state budget. Drought is always looming over us.
Here in Merced, where I reside, July felt like a hammer pounding us with temperatures above 104°F day after day. As my friend Tom, who has lived in Merced for 25 years, says, “When I moved here, a couple of weeks in summer were unbearable; now there are a couple of weeks in summer that are bearable.” This is a clear reflection of the consequences of climate change.
These phenomena endanger people and strain disadvantaged communities that often lack the infrastructure to provide climate resilience.
This is where Proposition 4 comes into play: a bond that aims to finance preventive measures and infrastructure that mitigate the effects of climate change in California, focusing on the most vulnerable communities.
### Proposal 4: From response to prevention
As the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure.”
And that is what Proposition 4 aims to do: its focus is on preventing environmental disasters rather than responding to them. Currently, the state spends enormous amounts of money on wildfires and floods after they occur, which is much more costly than preventing them. Proposition 4 seeks to change this dynamic by investing in resilient infrastructure that allows California to be better prepared, thus reducing both damages and long-term costs.
The bond would provide $10 billion in funds to help prevent wildfires, ensure access to clean water, and protect forests, coasts, and ecosystems. Disadvantaged communities would have several advantages, including 40% of the funds providing significant benefits for these communities.
### Water insecurity in the Central Valley and Proposition 4
One of the most pressing issues in California is the lack of access to safe water, disproportionately affecting rural and disadvantaged communities. Proposition 4 would allocate $3.8 billion for water-related projects, with $1.9 billion specifically earmarked for improving water security. Of these, at least $610 million would be for drinking water and $386 million for groundwater projects. Initiatives from previous decades focused more on surface water (such as dam construction). Proposition 4 emphasizes groundwater management, the source of drinking water for 85% of Californians.
The projects that would be funded depend on the location and nature of the need.
For example, in places like the city of San Joaquin in Fresno County, where tap water sometimes comes out black due to manganese interacting with the disinfection system, Proposition 4 could help filter out these impurities. In places like Livingston in Merced County, where the water is contaminated with a byproduct of a banned pesticide that is highly toxic (123-TCP), creating new wells or implementing an activated carbon filtration system would be the best solution.
### Flood prevention and drought protection
Funds can be used to finance aquifer recharge, a technique to allow water to seep into the soil and help ensure a sustainable supply of clean water for the future, especially in drier years. This can prevent our communal and domestic wells, and those of small farmers, from drying up.
The Central Valley of California is one of the most important agricultural regions in the world but is highly vulnerable to climate change. Rural communities in this region are already experiencing the devastating impact of heatwaves, droughts, and floods. The 2023 floods in Planada (Merced County) and nearby areas are a clear example of how lack of resilience to climate change and inadequate infrastructure to mitigate climate disasters are affecting these communities. Proposition 4 could provide funding to restore floodplains that allow water to naturally infiltrate the soil, reducing the risk of flooding in the streams that overflowed near Planada.
Planada is about 10 miles from my home, and my neighborhood also flooded during the same dates. However, it did not affect us as dramatically because we have a park built below ground level. When it rains heavily, instead of flooding our homes, the park fills up with stormwater from our neighborhood. I have seen it flooded several times since I have lived here, more than once a year on average. California needs more green infrastructure projects like this to help us adapt to climate change and the floods it is causing.
These funds could also finance the creation of such green infrastructure, such as parks and green spaces in flood-prone areas, providing multiple benefits: flood protection, improved air quality, reduced heat islands, and the creation of recreational spaces for the community.
### Wildfire prevention and technology
Preventing destructive wildfires is another key component of Proposition 4, including $1.5 billion to increase forest resilience. The bond plans to invest in proven scientific technologies, such as infrared cameras and drones to detect hotspots, as well as support forest management programs and cultural burns to reduce the fuel that feeds wildfires. These are proven technologies and strategies but require more funding to be implemented on a larger scale.
Although the Central Valley does not directly suffer from wildfires, communities in the region suffer from air pollution caused by smoke from fires in other parts of the state. Reducing the incidence of wildfires would indirectly benefit people in the Central Valley by improving air quality. Additionally, the proposition would fund the establishment of resilience centers in vulnerable communities where people could seek refuge during extreme heat events, fires, or severe air pollution.
### The consequences of inaction
According to studies conducted for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), every $1 invested in climate resilience in buildings saves $6 in disaster response costs, and another study indicates that investing in restoring floodplains is at least five times cheaper than repairs in response to floods after they have occurred. Furthermore, California’s 4th Climate Change Assessment estimates that, if no action is taken, the impacts of climate change could cost California up to $113 billion per year in the coming decades.
In addition to the economic cost, climate change also has a high human toll. Heatwaves, floods, and wildfires are already claiming lives in the state, and without decisive action, these extreme events will only become more frequent and deadly.
As I write this blog, Hurricane Helene has become the third deadliest hurricane in the United States this century, after Maria in 2017—which devastated my beloved Puerto Rico, claiming the lives of 3,000 Puerto Ricans—and Katrina in 2005, which killed 1,200 people. At least 50% of the record-breaking precipitation can be attributed to human-induced climate change.
### Why $10 billion and how much will it cost?
In 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom and the Legislature approved a $54.3 billion spending package to prepare and protect us from the effects of climate change, which was later reduced to $44.6 billion due to budget cuts. This led to the cancellation of programs that provide essential funds for resilience.
This bond would cover the $10 billion needed to carry out many of the planned works. The bond also has the advantage of providing more stability to certain government programs, ensuring that funds are distributed evenly when they are most needed.
The fiscal analysis indicates that the bond will cost $400 million per year, about $10 per person per year. This means that the interest rate is approximately 1.2% (about five times cheaper than a mortgage). However, the most crucial aspect is that the costs of climate disasters will not primarily be borne by the victims, but rather, collectively, we will invest in ensuring that disasters have much less impact or do not occur at all.
### A vote for the future
Proposition 4 represents a crucial investment in California’s future. By focusing on disaster prevention and improving the resilience of the most vulnerable communities, this bond has the potential to protect both people and the environment while saving billions of dollars in future costs. The longer we wait to act, the more expensive it will be to repair the damage caused by climate change.
In a time when the effects of climate change are already palpable, Proposition 4 offers an opportunity to build a more equitable and secure future for all Californians.
It is extremely important for every individual to be informed about the facts and shield themselves from misinformation so that they can freely decide with their vote what is in the best interest of all.
To conclude, I want to share this photo of the Merced National Wildlife Refuge. Some programs under Proposition 4 can help transform degraded lands that lack irrigation water into natural wetlands and habitats to protect our public and environmental health, and to make our Valley look like it did two centuries ago.
