Our ballot proposition, a nonpartisan initiative constitutional amendment, when approved by voters, will accomplish the following objectives:

• Provide ample funds for water infrastructure by allocating a mere two percent of the state’s general fund to use for projects that increase California’s annual supply of water to farms and cities.
• Unlock immediate access to tens of billions to invest in water projects by permitting up to half of the two percent allocation to be used to pay principal and interest on construction bonds.
• Give priority to underfunded projects approved by voters in Prop. 1 (2014) that are also already approved by the California Water Commission.
• Prioritize maintenance, repair and upgrades for projects to deliver abundant and affordable drinking water to underserved communities.
• Funding does not expire until the supply capacity of new projects provides five million acre feet of new water per year for California’s farms and cities, with surplus water used to protect California’s ecosystems.
• Eligible projects include funding for conservation programs achieving up to one million acre feet per year of water saved.
• Allocate funds based on an all-of-the-above strategy, allowing Californians to repair and upgrade aqueducts, dams, water treatment plants, build off-stream reservoirs, expand existing reservoirs, invest in wastewater reuse and desalination plants, runoff capture, and aquifer recharge and recovery.
• Streamline the bureaucratic process so projects can be designed and built in a reasonable period of time, instead of taking many decades to get approved and completed.

Californians have neglected their water infrastructure for decades, even though our population has increased to nearly 40 million, and even though climate change and prolonged droughts mean that achieving water resilience ought to be a top priority.