Last month, the California Legislature and Acting Governor Mike McGuire passed and approved SB 867, the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024. The bond measure will show up as Proposition 4 on voters’ ballots this November, and if passed, will invest $10 billion in various climate change, drought, flood, and wildfire mitigation efforts. NRDC Action Fund fully supports and endorses Proposition 4.
The sustainable agriculture chapter (Chapter 7) is particularly noteworthy because it makes historic investments in food and farm resilience, and would not have been possible without the successful multi-year campaign organized by the Food and Farm Resilience Coalition (FFRC)—a group of 17 environmental, agricultural, farmworker, public health, and food security organizations. Agriculture emits about 8% of the state’s greenhouse gasses, and if emissions across the supply chain were accounted for, that percentage would be greater. SB 867 tackles these supply chain emissions by funding sustainable farming practices, farmworker health and well-being, healthy food access, and local food infrastructure. Specifically, the climate bond includes:
