Free Republic

The US state of California on Wednesday said it would restructure upcoming bond issues as it tries to raise $14 billion in the middle of a sell-off in the municipal bond market. ................................................... The decision to shift more of the sale to a government-subsidized market for municipal bonds would lower the cost of the new debt. ..................................................... The state on Wednesday said it would cut the size of a sale of traditional tax-exempt bonds by $750 million to $1 billion, shifting the borrowing to a planned sale of taxable debt, which will price on Friday. Of the $2.75 billion of...

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California motorists are footing the bill as five of the state’s metropolitan regions rank in the Top Ten urban areas with the roughest pavements in the nation. In a report released today, TRIP, a national transportation research group, found that among large urban regions (500,000+ population), the areas with the greatest share of major roads and highways with pavements in poor condition are: San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, Kansas City, New Orleans (pre-Katrina), San Diego, Sacramento, St. Louis, Omaha and New York City. TRIP found that a quarter of the nation’s major metropolitan roads – interstates, freeways...

Build highways, freeways and mass transit, he said, "so you don't get stuck in traffic all the time." Expand universities, build new classrooms and modernize old ones "so that our kids have the best place to go." Strengthen the state's levee system "to protect the people of California from a major disaster." But in his stem-winder on the banks of the Sacramento River, the governor mentioned nothing about the housing bond, a key component that helped him win votes from Democratic legislators for the bond package he has touted as a bipartisan triumph. Housing bond supporters such as Assembly Speaker...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recognized that California must raise huge amounts of revenue to pay for public projects that are essential to the state's future well being. That is why in his State of the State address in January he proposed a $222 billion package of infrastructure improvements to be financed by state bonds and federal funds. While the bond measure being considered lacked important elements, it also accumulated a list of projects that are unrelated to basic infrastructure or are highly inefficient. Attached to the bond measure were funds for low-income housing, parks and a high-speed train. While some of...

If voters reject bond, 'chaos' may not ensue -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Davis package would act as fallback if court upholds it By Ed Mendel STAFF WRITER January 24, 2004 SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have a problem as he launches a full-scale campaign to overcome voter skepticism about a $15 billion fiscal-recovery bond measure on the March 2 ballot. It's not entirely clear that voter rejection of Proposition 57 will, as the governor has warned, result in "economic chaos," "Armageddon cuts" in services, or leave no choice but to "drastically increase taxes." If the governor's bond is rejected, the state simply...