Gov. Brown speaks out against Prop. 53 in San Francisco days before election
(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - The Governor of California made an appearance in San Francisco this morning, just days before the election, to urge voters to vote no on Proposition 53.
The news conference, which was held at the Laborers International Union Hall at 3271 18th Street, also included San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Supervisor Scott Wiener, state Assemblyman David Chiu.
Proposition 53, or the California Voter Approval Requirement for Revenue Bond, would require voter approval before revenue bonds could be issued or sold by the state for any projects costing over $2 billion.
The law would apply to all projects financed, owned, operated or managed by the state, as well as all projects financed, owned, operated or managed by joint agencies formed between the state and local city or county governments, another state or a federal government agency.
According to opponents of the measure, Prop 53 would take away local control by requiring a statewide vote for many local projects, even if the projects would be funded by local users and ratepayers.
In turn, they believe the vote requirement would prevent or delay necessary maintenance on infrastructure projects and systems.
"Big infrastructure projects help cities. We've got to have investments in our roads, our dams, our bridges -- we've got to have our water system in place and Prop 53 will endanger those very things," Governor
Jerry Brown said.
According to the No on Prop 53 campaign, the measure is being financed by an unnamed multimillionaire in an attempt to disrupt a single water infrastructure project.
"One millionaire put almost $5 million of his own money to put it on the ballot to change the constitution in California and to make it more difficult to do what we have to do, whether its building water projects, recycling, electrifying a rail, building the kind of hospitals and expansion of the university of California, all the projects that are so vital to our prosperity," Brown said.
Supporters of the measure argue that Prop 53 would give voters control over whether or not the state can implement extremely large, expensive projects, such as the bullet train and the proposed tunnels under the Delta. Additionally, they believe the measure would also protect the state's long-term fiscal health by discouraging spending that would be added to the state's debt.
"I've been around a long time and I've seen government get more and more difficult to manage and to operate. We see what's going on in Washington, they can't make minimal decisions. We don't want that Washington spirit of dysfunctionality brought to California and that's what Prop 53 is. It's just dysfunctionality on steroids," Brown said.