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A number of infrastructure-related initiatives with the potential to affect facility managers were on the ballot during the 2024 U.S. presidential election as voters across the country went to the polls on November 5 four key ballot initiatives were presented to voters in California, Colorado, Oklahoma and Rhode Islandaccording to a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
These measures can potentially influence how facility managers, operators and engineers approach capital projects, maintenance budgets and resilience planning, ASCE said.
California
Two initiatives, Proposition 4 and Proposition 5, were on the ballot, which sought to provide bond financing for public infrastructure.
Proposition 4 aims to allow the state to issue 10 billion dollars in bonds to finance projects to improve California’s water supply, address sea level rise and invest in the state’s energy infrastructure. This proposal was approved on November 5, with 58.9% of voters in more than 24,800 districts. voting for itfrom November. 10.
The bond marks the largest investment in climate resilience in California history, according to ASCE. At the very least it would require 40% of the total bond money to be used for activities that directly affect the communities most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.
The second initiative, Proposition 5, seeks to amend the California constitution to lower it 66.67% The supermajority required for local jurisdictions to issue bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure projects up to 55%. The initiative it couldn’t happenwith only 44.3% of voters saying yes to the initiative, according to Ballotpedia, a nonpartisan platform that provides information on U.S. politics and elections.
Another ballot measure, Proposition 32, seeks to raise the state’s minimum wage from $16 to $18. While the state is still working to determine the outcome, unofficial results show 51.3% of voters are against the measureas of Nov. 10, KRCR reported.
oklahoma
Oklahoma voters were asked to decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow municipalities to create “public infrastructure districts,” or PIDs, which would have had the authority to issue bonds for to public improvements to roads, sidewalks, water. , sewerage and other infrastructure.
The constitutional reform proposal, known as Oklahoma State Question 833the vote did not pass, with 61.6% of state voters who say no to the amendment. The PIDs would have been governed by a board of trustees with the power to impose special rates on properties benefiting from improvement projects. According to Ballotpedia, those assessments could be as high as $100 per $100,000 of assessed property value.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island’s Question 4, the Environmental and Recreational Infrastructure Bond Measure, was a ballot measure aimed at passing a 53 million dollars “Green bond to finance infrastructure related to the environment, recreation areas and green space issues in the state,” ASCE said.
The ballot measure includes 10 million dollars for the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank to fund matching grants from up to 75% directly support the state’s cities and towns in their efforts to improve the resilience of vulnerable infrastructure, as well as $2 million for matching grants to public and non-profit entities to restore and improve the climate resilience of vulnerable areas, according to ASCE.
The initiative was approved by approx 67.4% voting yes to the measure of the bond.
North Dakota
In addition to the issues mentioned by ASCE, there were other measures that could affect owners and operators considered in the midwestaccording to the National Conference of State Legislatures. For example, North Dakota Measure 4 sought to eliminate property taxes based on assessed value, requiring the state to provide one estimated at $3.15 billion in replacement income to local governments during each two-year budget, AP News reported. However, voters rejected that measure in the November 2024 election.
Meanwhile, Kentucky and Nebraska voted to eliminate funding to non-public schools. finished 64% of Kentucky voters constitutional amendment 2 rejectedwhich would have allowed public funds to be spent on non-public schools.
