BONDS. WATER STORAGE, RELIABILITY, PROTECTION. DRINKING WATER. STATUTE.

Authorizes $11,690,000,000 in bonds paid from state’s General Fund, allocated approximately as follows: 30% to dams and other surface and groundwater storage for the state water system and the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta (“delta”) or its tributaries; 23% to statewide water supply reliability projects; 21% to delta sustainability and ecosystem improvements; 14% to groundwater protection and water quality projects; 11% to statewide conservation and pollution cleanup including ecosystem and urban watershed protection; and 2% to water recycling. Creates commission with the power to finance projects, including delta water conveyance. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: State cost of about $22.8 billion over 30 years to pay off both the principal ($11.7 billion) and interest ($11.1 billion) costs on general obligation bonds authorized by the initiative. Payments of about $760 million per year. Unknown eventual costs, potentially in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year, to state and local governments to operate or maintain projects developed with these bond funds. (Initiative 07-0092.) (Full Text