In 2006, work started by stakeholders to renew OCTA Measure M. This is a .5 cent sales tax enacted in 1992 to support OCTA and our local transportation systems. The 20-year Measure M was scheduled to sunset in 2011. Coastkeeper, armed with public polling, documented that the number 1 issue with residents was needing a solution to traffic congestion. Number 2 was closed and posted beaches due to pollution was unacceptable.
Coastkeeper successfully convinced the OCTA 20/20 Committee and the Board of Directors that a fund in the new Measure M should be created to pay for projects that would clean-up urban runoff that had a nexus to transportation and roads. After we had an agreement for 2% of the gross revenue for 30 years, which was estimated to be approximately $240 million.
Coastkeeper wrote a proposal to create the Environmental Clean-up Allocation Committee and suggested a process to distribute the funds each year. The Committee would be composed of professionals that dealt with stormwater runoff and urban water pollution daily. Only O.C. cities and the County of Orange are eligible to submit proposals for funding, which is on a competitive basis with other cities.
Coastkeeper Founder & President, Garry Brown, is serving a second term as Chairman of the Allocation Committee and is happy to report:
Total Measure M Environmental Clean-up Allocation Funding as of September 2018:
- 188 projects have been funded since 2011 (166 Tier 1 and 22 Tier 2)
- $50.4 million in both Tier 1 & 2 funds have been approved
- All 34 Orange County cities and the County of Orange have participated and been funded
