<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_342711" dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-skelton-proposition-3-california-20181015-story.html" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343284">http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-skelton-proposition-3-california-20181015-story.html</a></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_342711" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: FBKisDisplay; font-size: 44px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343357">Water bond Proposition 3 has something for everyone — and that's the problem</span></div><header style="box-sizing: border-box; grid-column-start: 1; grid-column-end: span 6; grid-row-start: 1; grid-row-end: span 1; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343055"><div data-pb-name="Article Header" data-pb-curated="curated" style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343056"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343057"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 12px 24px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343060"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row; padding-right: 8px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343061"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 8px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343062"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; min-height: 32px; width: 40px; border-right-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343063"><a aria-label="https://www.latimes.com/resizer/VCMAwxSmG9nV2gCuwtULOCpc9s4=/32x32/www.trbimg.com/img-5bb251ab/turbine/lanews-george-skelton-20130507" href="http://www.latimes.com/lanews-george-skelton-20130507-staff.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Benton Bold'; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 12px; min-height: 32px; width: 32px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343064"><figure style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; min-height: 32px; width: 32px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343065"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; min-height: 32px; width: 32px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343066"><img alt="George Skelton" src="https://www.latimes.com/resizer/FXFPUASoI_OtEDfLgCnFzx2sSRE=/1400x0/www.latimes.com/resizer/VCMAwxSmG9nV2gCuwtULOCpc9s4=/32x32/www.trbimg.com/img-5bb251ab/turbine/lanews-george-skelton-20130507" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 32px; flex-shrink: 0; object-fit: cover; min-height: 32px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343067" data-id="d999a640-44c3-d8c4-adcd-2369e4c8eee0"></div></figure></a></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343068"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: normal;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343069"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Benton Bold'; line-height: 12px; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343070">By <a aria-label="George Skelton" href="http://www.latimes.com/lanews-george-skelton-20130507-staff.html#nt=byline" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; line-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 12px; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343071"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343072">GEORGE SKELTON</span></a></span></div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343073"></span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row; line-height: normal;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343074"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343075"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Benton Medium'; line-height: 12px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343076">OCT 15, 2018 </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Benton Medium'; line-height: 12px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343077">|</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Benton Medium'; line-height: 12px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343078">12:05 AM </span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343079"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Benton Medium'; line-height: 12px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343080">|</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Benton Medium'; line-height: 12px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343081">SACRAMENTO</span></div></div></div></div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: right; flex: 1 1 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343082"><button aria-label="share on twitter" name="twitter" role="button" data-arctrack="socialShareTwtr" data-referrer="" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; overflow: visible; text-transform: uppercase; cursor: pointer; font-size: 16px; line-height: 40px; font-family: 'Benton Bold'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border: none; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; padding: 0px; min-height: 40px; width: 40px; background-position: 0px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343083"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; line-height: 32px; 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grid-column-end: span 4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343090"><div data-pb-name="Lead Art" data-pb-curated="curated" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343091"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343092"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343093"><figure style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343094"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 484.4166564941406px; flex-shrink: 0; object-fit: cover; min-height: 272.6666564941406px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343095"><img alt="Water bond Proposition 3 has something for everyone — and that's the problem" src="https://www.latimes.com/resizer/H1HwzyKe4sslFHMoixfPVR-GBiY=/1400x0/www.trbimg.com/img-5bc40f05/turbine/la-1539575550-12vg4gmysv-snap-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 484.4166564941406px; flex-shrink: 0; object-fit: cover; min-height: 272.6666564941406px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343096" data-id="38501ec3-e85f-82dc-bebe-371d93046e03" class=""></div><figcaption style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; font-family: Benton; line-height: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 12px; flex-direction: row; justify-content: space-between; margin-top: 8px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343097"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343098">Sprinklers irrigate a farm field in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)</div></figcaption></figure></div></div></div><div data-pb-name="Article Body (Elements)" data-pb-curated="curated" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343099"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343100"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343101"><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343102"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343103"><div data-page="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343104">Call it a Christmas tree or a candy shop, Proposition 3 has a nice gift for almost everyone, especially eastern San Joaquin Valley farmers.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343105"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343106"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 40px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343107">The Nov. 6 ballot initiative would authorize the largest water bond in California history, $8.9 billion. Add in $8.4 billion for interest payments and the total reaches $17.3 billion. That’s $430 million annually for 40 years.</div></div><iframe style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 532.4166870117188px; min-height: 0px !important; min-height: 0px !important; border-style: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; display: block !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343108"></iframe></div><div style="box-sizing: content-box; overflow: hidden; min-height: 347px; transition: height 0s; margin: 16px auto; max-width: 550px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343109"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px !important; position: relative; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343110"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; cursor: pointer; ; top: 3px; right: 5px; width: 15px; min-height: 15px; line-height: 15px; padding: 1px; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 15px 15px; z-index: 1; left: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; background-position: 100% center; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343111"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px !important; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: 9px !important; color: rgb(170, 170, 170) !important; text-align: right !important; padding: 1px 4px 1px 0px !important; min-height: 26px !important; line-height: 26px !important; letter-spacing: 0.3px !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343112"><a href="http://inread-experience.teads.tv/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none !important; color: rgb(170, 170, 170) !important; font-size: 9px !important; letter-spacing: 0.3px !important; border: none !important; background-image: none !important; box-shadow: none !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343113"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline !important; font-size: 9px !important; box-shadow: none !important; letter-spacing: 0.3px !important; color: rgb(121, 187, 233) !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343114">inRead</span> invented by Teads</a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343115"><iframe allow="autoplay" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: 532px !important; min-height: 300px !important; border-width: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; float: none !important; max-height: 300px !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343116"></iframe></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; color: rgb(153, 153, 153) !important; font-family: 'Benton Medium' !important; font-size: 9px !important; text-align: right !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; min-height: 21px !important; letter-spacing: 0.3px !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343117">ADVERTISEMENT</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343118"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343119"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343120">Proposition 3 is the product of a classic pay-to-play operation. It’s probably not what Gov. Hiram Johnson envisioned when he and Progressive reformers created California’s direct democracy system more than a century ago.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343121"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343122"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343123">Those reforms included the initiative, referendum and recall. The idea was to empower citizens to fight special interests — not to provide the interests with another tool to buy themselves public benefits.</div></div></div><div data-inline-ad-count="2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 16px 0px 22px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343124"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343125"><div data-pb-name="Nativo Ad" data-pb-curated="curated" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center; margin-top: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343126"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343127"><div data-nativo-id-desktop="1069574" style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343128"></div></div></div></span></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343129"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343130"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343131">Under pay to play, an initiative creator shops his draft proposal to interest groups, trolling for financial backing. Interests that donate to the cost of collecting voter signatures and the election campaign usually buy themselves a share of the initiative’s benefits. It’s a good investment. Roughly 80% of bond measures pass.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343132"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343133"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343134">There’s also a version of pay to play in every legislative body in America. It’s old-fashioned pork barrel politics, a sort of “pay to vote” extortion. A legislator demands a special carve-out for his district in exchange for his vote.</div></div></div><div data-type="interstitial_link" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343135"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343136"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343137"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343138"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanews-george-skelton-20130507-staff.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; line-height: 32px; color: rgb(80, 172, 205); font-size: 19px; font-weight: 400;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343139">More from George Skelton »</a></span></span></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343140"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343141"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343142">In 2009, the California Legislature passed a water bond so bloated with pork that lawmakers were too embarrassed and fearful to even place it on the ballot. It totaled $11.1 billion and was saturated with such extraneous lard as bike trails, “watershed education centers” and money for a Lake Tahoe water taxi.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343143"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343144"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343145">Finally in 2014, the Legislature — motivated by common sense and a devastating drought — passed a more modest, relatively pork-free $7.5-billion water bond that voters overwhelmingly approved.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343146"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343147"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343148">Last year, the Legislature passed another water bond — held down to $4.1 billion by Gov. Jerry Brown — and voters approved it in June.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343149"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343150"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343151">Neither the governor nor the Legislature thought a third water bond in four years was practical or prudent. But Jerry Meral, a veteran water expert, environmentalist and pay-to-play practitioner, thought otherwise and devised Proposition 3.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343152"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343153"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343154">The campaign had raised $4.7 million as of Oct. 1. There has been no opposition money.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343155"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343156"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343157">Agriculture has been a major bankroller — nut orchards, fruit trees, dairies, rice.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343158"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343159"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343160">Also kicking in big have been bird hunters and watchers — Ducks Unlimited, the California Waterfowl Assn. — and the California Wildlife Foundation. Some wetlands would be restored under the proposal.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343161"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343162"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343163">Environmentalists are split. The Nature Conservancy supports the measure. The Sierra Club is opposed.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343164"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343165"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343166">“A lot of the money is going to a few big farming interests in the Central Valley,” asserts Kathryn Phillips, the Sierra Club director in California.</div></div></div><div data-type="interstitial_link" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343167"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343168"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343169"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343170"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/essentialpolitics" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; line-height: 32px; color: rgb(80, 172, 205); font-size: 19px; font-weight: 400;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343171">Coverage of California politics »</a></span></span></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343172"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343173"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343174">Opponents are especially bothered by a $750-million expenditure to repair the federally owned Friant-Kern and Madera canals between Fresno and Bakersfield.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343175"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343176"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343177">Two problems, critics say:</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343178"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343179"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343180">First, the canals aren’t working right because they’ve sunk. And the land has sunk because farmers have over-pumped groundwater, causing major subsidence.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343181"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343182"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343183">Growers caused their own problem. Now they want the whole state to pony up to solve it.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343184"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343185"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343186">Historically, water projects are funded on the basis of beneficiary pay. Water users pay through their monthly bills. Proposition 3 would undo that policy for these two broken canals.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343187"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343188"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343189">Second problem: The federal government owns the canals and should be responsible for fixing them — not the state.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343190"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343191"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343192">“In the age of Trump, California taxpayers are going to fix a federal project? It’s just mind-boggling,” says Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount), who wrote the cleaned-up $7.5-billion water bond in 2014 and strongly opposes Proposition 3.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343193"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343194"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343195">Meral answers: “The federal government has been a little bit missing in action in California. It will be an unmitigated catastrophe if those canals aren’t fixed. We just can’t let them go. An agricultural water supply means we have a food supply.”</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343196"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343197"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343198">Not just “we” have the supply, however. California growers export much of their produce overseas. Maybe the whole world should kick in with repair dough if all Californians are expected to.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343199"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343200"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343201">Actually, there are many good things on this loaded Christmas tree — money for purifying water for drinking, flood protection, dam repairs, recycling, desalination and habitat restoration.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343202"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343203"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343204">An expenditure I especially like is $80 million to finally tear down Matilija Dam on the Ventura River near Ojai. It was built when I was a kid. My steelhead-fishing dad predicted it would silt up. Steelhead runs soon ceased because the oceangoing trout lost their spawning beds. And the reservoir sure enough filled up with silt and became utterly useless.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343205"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343206"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343207">The question is whether all these projects are needed right now and are cost-effective. There seemed to be no prioritizing.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343208"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343209"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343210">“It’s garbage — nothing but pet projects,” Rendon says. “It’s the old way of doing business. Cynical politics, what people don’t like.”</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343211"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343212"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343213">In the other legislative chamber, however, state Senate leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) supports the measure. Her district makes out well under Proposition 3.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343214"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343215"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343216">“It will increase reliable water supply in my district and across the state,” Atkins said in an email to me.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343217"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343218"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343219">One crucial flaw in the initiative is that the Legislature would have no say over the bond program’s operation. No legislative oversight. The money would be spent unchecked by state agencies.</div></div></div><div data-type="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 4px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343220"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; padding: 24px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343221"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px;" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_343222">Voters should resist Proposition 3. And the next Legislature should devise a more modest plan with less candy.</div></div></div></div></div></section><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_342719"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1539355719156_342721"><br></div></div></div></body></html>