Ballot Initiative Would Help Reduce Air Pollution

from "Public Policy Update", Breathe Easy news magazine, Fall 2002/Winter 2003

An initiative on the state ballot in November would help reduce air pollution by earmarking 30 percent of the state’s portion of the sales tax on new and used car sales to transportation and air quality improvement programs. The Traffic Congestion Relief and Safe Schools Act, Proposition 51, would dedicate an estimated $870 million toward these programs.

More than half of the funds raised by this measure would go to public transit projects. The initiative also directs funding to the Carl Moyer Air Quality Standards Attainment Program for upgrading and replacing older diesel vehicles and equipment with cleaner alternatives, as well as to the Safe and Clean School Bus Account for the purchase of lower-emission school buses.

The measure is sponsored by the Planning and Conservation League and supported by the American Lung Association of California and other environmental groups.