Governor backs Prop. 84, for parks and water money
By Paul Rogers
Mercury News
Saturday, July 22, 2006
The chances of passage for the largest parks and water bond in California history received a significant boost Friday with the endorsement of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.The measure, Proposition 84, will appear on the Nov. 7 statewide ballot.
The proposal would raise $5.4 billion through the sale of general obligation bonds to shore aging levees in San Francisco Bay's delta, build drinking water treatment plants, fund flood control, restore salmon runs and purchase new parks from Monterey Bay to Lake Tahoe to Los Angeles. Roughly half the money would fund parks and half water projects. None is for building new dams.
It was unclear whether Schwarzenegger would endorse the measure because it was not placed on the ballot as part of negotiations between him and state lawmakers.
Rather, environmental groups -- including the Nature Conservancy, California Audubon Society and Save-the-Redwoods League -- collected 632,000 signatures and put it on the ballot to guarantee that parks and water projects they support would have a chance to receive funding.
Schwarzenegger and the Legislature put four other bond measures on the ballot, totaling $37 billion, to fund highways, schools and levees.
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