07/03/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 07/03/2024 19:14
By Melissa Sparks-Kranz, legislative affairs lobbyist (environmental quality), and Zack Cefalu, legislative affairs analyst
A long-awaited climate bond needs to clear both the Assembly and Senate tonight to make it on the November ballot. Cal Cities maintained a support if amended position for SB 867 (Allen), which now includes many of Cal Cities' funding asks. Climate change resiliency and disaster preparedness are among Cal Cities' top advocacy priorities for 2024.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders conditioned the state's budget in part on the climate bond.
The Legislature technically had until June 27 to pass measures for the November 2024 ballot. However, the Secretary of State extendedthe final deadline to July 3 for the measure.
Lawmakers held SB 867 and a similar measure, AB 1567 (Garcia), in committee last year. Progress resumed this spring with negotiations via legislative working groups, but no changes to the bill were made until late Saturday, this past weekend. SB 867 came out of these negotiations as a $10 billion climate bond, down from $15 billion.
In its lobbying, Cal Cities repeatedly stressed the need for a long-term bond financing mechanism to the bill's authors, legislative working group members and staff, and at budget hearings - where lawmakers reduced climate funding in the state budget. Cal Cities also worked with a local government coalition to advocate for cities, counties, and special districts.
What's in the bond?
The $10 billion climate bondcovers a range of funding categories. The climate bond will provide critical funding support for cities to advance vital climate initiatives.
The bulleted items under each category reflect funding that Cal Cities strongly advocated for:
Water ($3.8 billion total)
Wildfire and forest resilience ($1.5 billion total)
While the Legislature did not prioritize funding organic waste diversion infrastructure and transitioning public fleets to zero-emission vehicles, the measure would direct funding to most of Cal Cities' priorities.
Next steps
If SB 867 clears the Assembly and Senate, it will proceed to the Governor for approval. Both he and the Lieutenant Governor are out of state, so Senator Pro Tem Mike McGuire will need to sign off on the bill to advance it to the ballot box.
Cal Cities Board of Directors will meet in July to review whether to support the climate bond should it qualify as a ballot initiative.