Your November ballot is welcoming you to make it rain … in bonds.
You’ll see an El Nino-sized set of propositions that could flood the housing construction and science research components of the California economy with $44 billion of bond spending if the measures pass.
Two of those bond proposals — Proposition 1 for housing and Proposition 38 for immunology research — are the traditional borrow-now, pay-back-later arrangements that add a few billion dollars to the overall cost of the propositions. A third, Proposition 37, is an atypical measure that amounts to a low-risk radical experiment that taxpayers likely won’t be on the hook for, at least not directly.
Historically, bond propositions win the approval of voters at higher rates than other measures. Since 2000, voters passed 23 of the 26 statewide bonds before them, an 88% yay rate. In recent years voters approved billions in bond debt for school construction, combatting the effects of climate change and housing for veterans.
Prop. 1: Affordable housing
If voters say yes, Prop. 1 would permit California’s treasurer to sell $11.25 billion in general obligation bonds. That money would provide various types of housing, including to veterans, homeless Californians, renters, homeowners, farmworkers, students and tribes.
The measure dedicates $7…
