Stand with the Region You Love: Getting to Know Proposition 68

You’ve probably noticed a recent uptick in SBC outreach around Proposition 68 – the Clean Water and Safe Parks bond measure on the June statewide ballot – and if so, great! SBC is part of a growing number of organizations and individuals who support this measure because of the critical investment it makes in California’s water, parks, and natural resources. Unlike many previous bond measures, this one allocates substantial funding – $142 million – specifically to the Sierra-Cascade region. That means our communities will see direct benefit from state funding to make local water systems more effective, protect our communities from severe wildfire, keep toxic pollutants out of our water, and protect land and recreational opportunities around the rivers, lakes, and streams where more than 60% of the state’s water comes from.

Today is World Water Day, so it seems only fitting to take a moment to get to know the background of Prop. 68 and the efforts to bring clean water, conservation resources, and other benefits to the Sierra-Cascade and the rest of the state. Prop. 68 began as a legislative idea in Senate Bill 5, The California Clean Water & Safe Parks Act, sponsored by then-Senate leader Kevin de Leon, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, and new Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins. SB 5 passed last year with bipartisan support and was signed by Governor Brown, placing it on the June 5th 2018 ballot for California voters. And now Prop. 68 is supported by a wide range of organizations working together to ensure clean drinking water, safe parks, and resilient natural resources now and for future generations.

In a wonderful bit of serendipity, the theme for this year’s World Water Day is Nature for Water. The theme symbolizes protecting, restoring, and using natural systems – eg. healthy forests, functioning wetlands, water recycling, and more – as a means of improving water quality and reliability. Such solutions, all of which can be funded through Prop. 68 when passed, work hand-in-hand with the current built infrastructure to better address the increasingly intense and frequent wildfires, droughts, and floods that hurt our residents, our environment and our economic well-being.

SBC is pleased to be working with so many Sierra-Cascade partners in support of this measure. We have a duty to do what we can to pass Prop. 68 and secure much-needed support for and investment in projects that will improve our region and protect the benefits we provide to the rest of California. To help with this undertaking, SBC has created a Sierra Task Force that is coordinating with the statewide ballot campaign to gain endorsements, campaign support, and to help spread the message about Prop. 68’s many benefits to our region. We hope you will join us in promoting this measure within your own network and voting Yes on 68 at the polls on June 5th or by mail.

Please contact Chris Mertens, SBC’s Government Affairs Director, at 530-582-4800 or cmertens@sierrabusiness.org for information on how to promote, endorse, or donate to this historic opportunity. Stand with the region you love – see you at the polls!