Extreme Makeover, California Edition
SACRAMENTO — California's packed roadways, flood-prone riverbanks, polluted ports, crammed schools and insufficient housing stock would receive the most extensive renovation and expansion in four decades under a $116-billion public works proposal that the Legislature voted Friday to put before voters.
If the electorate approves the plan's core -- $37.3 billion in new borrowing -- in the Nov. 7 general election, the state will make the most concerted investment in infrastructure since the 1960s. Then, under Gov. Pat Brown, California doubled its capacity to store water, laid thousands of miles of freeways and added campuses to the state's college and university system.
The spending would be focused less on growth than on accommodating the consequences of California's extensive development over a generation. State officials said that as early as next year, some of the money could jump-start already planned projects, including upgrades to 479 bridges and widening of freeways.
"We've made a major down payment on 40 years of neglect of California's infrastructure, which is really the foundation for both our economy and our educational system," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland).
Months of negotiations in the Capitol ended early Friday morning with an election-year package that gives Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators literally a concrete accomplishment that could help lift their dismal public approval ratings. Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislative leaders plan to fly to Los Angeles, Orange County, Oakland and San Diego on Monday to trumpet the package.
For all the fanfare, the deal could also be a new strain on the state budget for the next 30 years. If voters approve the package of four general-obligation bond measures, within a decade the state would have to pay as much as $2.5 billion annually toward the debt. Should California face another fiscal crisis, the burden -- along with other changes lawmakers approved to protect gas tax money from any use besides transportation -- could put a substantial squeeze on school operations and healthcare programs.
Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders heralded the deal as a refutation of the Capitol's reputation as myopic and paralyzed. Republican lawmakers, who held veto power over the plan because their votes were needed to reach the two-thirds majority required to place a measure on the ballot, reluctantly signed on after winning concessions on how the money would be spent.
