No on Proposition 10 Fact Sheet

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Prop 10: Exploding California’s Budget Deficit, Cutting Education and Health Programs

A fossil fuel corporation owned by Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens spent three million dollars to put Proposition 10 on the ballot. That corporation will reap a bonanza if Prop 10 passes. California taxpayers will be stuck subsidizing big trucking companies at a cost of $335 million per year.  California faces a $15 billion budget deficit crisis.  Prop 10’s raid on the state’s coffers will mean cuts to our schools, our public safety and health programs.  

Riddled with Loopholes – Defines Pollution Status Quo as “Clean”

Taxpayers will shell out $2.5 billion in subsidies to trucking companies to purchase “clean” vehicles that pollute at levels identical to the diesel and gasoline powered trucks that are on the road.  Prop 10 does not require any reduction in global warming emissions for trucking companies that get “clean” vehicle handouts up to $50,000 per truck.  Prop 10 excludes hybrids from its definition of a “clean” vehicle.

Pick-pocketing Californians– A $10 Billion Boondoggle

The day after interstate trucking companies collect their $50,000 Prop 10 “clean” truck rebates, they can relocate these trucks out of state. They can sell their old “dirty” trucks to California truckers who will keep on polluting our air. The cost to California taxpayers: $10 billion.   

A stacked deck for its favorite fossil fuel

Prop 10 manipulate the market to subsidize vehicles powered by a fossil fuel, natural gas, and to disadvantage other cleaner technologies. A purchaser of a natural gas powered car would receive a $10,000 state rebate. A purchaser of a hybrid car with an identical California clean vehicle rating receives only a $2000 rebate. Hybrids have much great promise as a transition to all electric vehicles. Natural gas is a dead end. But T. Boone Pickens’ corporation dominates the natural gas fueling business. He makes a fortune when Prop 10 massively increases the number of vehicles that fill up at his fossil fuel gas stations.  

Prop 10: No Accountability, Filled with Loopholes

Contrast Prop 10 with another clean vehicle program that is already in place. The Goods Movement Program administered by the California Air Resources Board provides up to $50,000 to replace an old dirty truck with a new clean truck. Unlike Prop 10’s first come - first served payouts, the Goods Movement Program has a competitive application process.  Applications are ranked based on the amount of pollution reduction achieved. The trucks with the highest emissions are replaced first and their owners get funding priority. Unlike Prop 10, these dirty trucks are crushed, permanently removing them from our roads. Unlike Prop 10, to get a rebate under the Goods Movement Program, the trucker must accept a GPS device to track the clean new truck’s movements. If the truck leaves the state, the trucker pays a penalty.  Prop 10’s corporate authors ignored this model of clean air accountability.   

Prop 10: A Texas Billionaire’s Money Grab – Vote No!

Prop 10 misuses billions in bonds to fund tax giveaways of minimal environmental value. Bonds are designed for long term capital improvements such as building schools, hospitals, and transportation infrastructure, not to subsidize profitable corporations to purchase trucks and cars that will become scrap metal long before our grandchildren finish 30 years of bond payments. California cannot afford to cut our schools, our fire protection and our health services to make a Texas oil billionaire even richer.