Smart Voter
State of California November 3, 1998 General
Proposition 7
Air Quality Improvement. Tax Credits.

Initiative Statute. Put on the Ballot by Petition Signatures.

3,313,816 / 43.6% Yes votes ...... 4,282,557 / 56.4% No votes

See Also: Measures

Infomation shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Yes/No Meaning | Official Information | Arguments |
Summary Prepared by the State Attorney General:
  • Authorizes State Air Resources Board and delegated air pollution control districts to award $218 million in state tax credits annually until January 2011, to encourage air-emissions reduction through acquisition, conversion, and retrofitting of:
    -- vehicles, buses, and heavy-duty trucks;
    -- hearth products;
    -- construction vehicles and equipment;
    -- lawn and garden equipment;
    -- ambient air pollution destruction technology;
    -- off-road, nonrecreational vehicles;
    -- port equipment;
    -- agricultural waste and rice straw conversion facilities; and through research and development.
  • Requires study of air quality market-based incentive program for prescribed burning projects.
  • Establishes local transportation funds as trust funds.

Fiscal Impact from the Legislative Analyst:
  • Annual net state revenue loss due to new tax credits, averaging in the range of tens of millions to over a hundred million dollars, from 1999 to beyond 2010. Increase in local sales tax revenues, potentially in the millions of dollars annually through 2010-11.
  • State costs of up to $4.7 million annually through 2010-11 to administer new tax credit program.
  • Potential long-term savings to state and local governments, of an unknown amount, in health care expenditures.

Meaning of Voting Yes/No
A YES vote of this measure means:
The state Air Resources Board would administer a new tax credit program. Tax credits would be awarded through 2010 for various categories of projects that reduce emissions of pollutants into the air.

A NO vote of this measure means:
The state Air Resources Board would not be directed to establish a new tax credit program designed to reduce emissions of pollutants into the air.

Official Sources of Information
Arguments Submitted to the Secretary of State

Summary of Arguments FOR Proposition 7:
American Lung Association, California Nurses Association, and Sacramento Chamber of Commerce support Proposition 7, the Air Quality Improvement Act . Uses Private sector tax incentives to reduce toxic emissions from buses and trucks. Cleaner air benefits the health of children and the elderly. Creates no new bureaucracy. Cuts no existing programs.

Full Text of Argument In Favor, Rebuttal

Summary of Arguments AGAINST Proposition 7:
Proposition 7 is corporate welfare, pure and simple. It gives tax breaks to the corporations that paid to put it on the ballot. It guarantees billions in taxpayers' money to polluters, with no accountability or regulation in return. It takes money from universities, the environment and law enforcement. Vote No.

Full Text of Argument Against, Rebuttal

Contact FOR Proposition 7:
Gerald H. Meral
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League
926 J Street, Suite 612
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 444-8726 ext. 126
http://www.pcl.org

Contact AGAINST Proposition 7:
Taxpayers Against
Corporate Welfare
926 J Street, Suite 710
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 446-4300
http://www.noon7.org

  Nonpartisan Analysis

League of Women Voters

Senate Office of Research California Budget Project California Journal California Voter Foundation Campaign Finances

Cal. Voter Foundation

Informed Voter California Voter Foundation News and Analysis

Sacramento Bee

San Francisco Chronicle Partisan Analysis

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Secretary of State

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Created: February 16, 1999 18:53
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