California's legislative leaders say they have reached a compromise to place a revamped water bond on the November ballot.
The amount of money dedicated to new reservoirs and other water storage projects had been the main sticking point for minority Republicans, whose votes are needed to gain the required two-thirds support.
Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff told reporters Wednesday that "we finally have a water bond with water."
The proposal that emerged after hours of negotiations between Gov. Jerry Brown and leaders from both parties totaled $7.5 billion, with $2.7 billion dedicated to storage.
That is more than Democrats and Gov. Jerry Brown had proposed but less than the $3 billion included in the current ballot measure, which was approved by a previous Legislature in 2009.
Senate leader Darrell Steinberg says the new plan provides "unprecedented levels of money for storage." The Assembly and Senate had scheduled votes on the water bond Wednesday evening.
