Hawaii Land Trust News
Voters Continue to Support Land Conservation:
Voters have again demonstrated a commitment to open space conservation by approving 74 percent of the ballot measures they faced in 2002, up from a 70 percent approval rate in 2001. The findings were released January31 in Land Vote 2002, a report by the Land Trust Alliance and the Trust for Public Land.
According to Land Vote 2002, 141 of 189 parks and open space ballot measures passed in 2002, generating more than $10 billion in new funding for 28 states, including about $5.7 billion for land acquisition, preservation and protection.
"Voters in a bipartisan manner have again voiced their strong support for protection of natural lands, clean water, and safe communities," said LTA President Rand Wentworth. "They understand that we are losing 2 million acres each year, and they have shown their concern that the lands we protect today will affect the American landscape for all time."
"2002 was another year of very strong voter support for open space protection across the country," said TPL President Will Rogers. "At a time when the threshold for government spending and borrowing is rising, Americans continue to demonstrate that they will pay to protect the places that are special to them."
Noteworthy Election Day 2002
Voter support for open space was particularly strong on November 5,2002, when 95 of 112 measures -- or 85 percent -- were approved, generating$2.9 billion for open space acquisition, restoration and protection. That passage rate was an increase from the 75 percent seen on Election Day 2001.
LandVote 2002 is an annual publication of LTA and TPL, and is availableonline at www.landvote.org
LandVote 2002 Methodology
LandVote 2002 tabulates funding from local and state conservation ballot measures in two ways: 1) the total funding contained in these measures for any and all purposes, including land acquisition, restoration, and protection; and 2) funding contained in successful measures that is specifically for land acquisition, restoration, and protection.
Many ballot measures contain funding for projects other than land protection. Therefore, both sets of figures document the substantial voter support for conservation.
Most of the measures tabulated by LandVote 2002 are bond measures that authorize the use of bonded indebtedness (general obligation bonds) to raise government revenue. Other measures tabulated by LandVote 2002 include property taxes and sales taxes, calculated over the life of the measure. Most bonds have a life of 20 or 30 years. There, when a bond measure contains no sunset provision, Land Vote 2002 estimates its revenue total based a 20-year duration.
