LOS ANGELES
Amid a drought that followed a year of historic wildfires exacerbated by a warming planet, California’s governor on Friday proposed spending a record $11 billion on programs to combat climate change, promote clean air, shore up water supplies and prevent wildfires.
The spending on environment-related programs would be an increase of $9 billion from what Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed in January and is the result of a combined $76 billion in state tax revenues and federal stimulus money.
The windfall will fund everything from charging stations for electric cars to preparing communities for disasters ranging from fire, flooding and earthquakes to creating habitat for threatened bumble bees that are essential to pollinating crops in the nation’s most productive farmland.