California voters have resoundingly approved tens of billions of dollars in state school construction bonds over the last two decades. But a new survey suggests that voters have yet to similarly warm up to the latest and heftiest proposal to come before them: a $15 billion state bond for public schools, community colleges...
Walters: Bond Issue Transparency Still Under Assault
Two years ago, in a rare display of support for transparency in government finance, the Legislature and then-Gov. Jerry Brown required local governments and school districts to tell voters how proposed bond issues would affect their property taxes. That would seem to be just common sense and good government, but...
California Sells Another $600M in Bonds for High-Speed Rail
SACRAMENTO — California sold $600 million in bonds Tuesday to help pay for building high-speed rail even as lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledge challenges to completing the project. The bond money is a key source of funding for the troubled rail system, which has been beset by cost overruns...
Stocks Fall as Bond Market Flashes a Recession Warning
By Matt Phillips The bond market smells a recession. On Friday, stock investors caught a whiff, too. Economic forecasters and Wall Street traders have been watching for months as interest rates on long-term U.S. government bonds have dropped toward the rates on short-term debt. Investors normally demand higher yields to buy...
Walters: Should California Revive Redevelopment?
An anything-is-possible attitude enveloped post-World War II America, fueling ambitious undertakings such as a nationwide network of freeways, nuclear power so inexpensive that it wouldn’t need to be metered, and exploring outer space. It also spawned what was called “redevelopment,” a tool that would, it was said, clean up inner...
State Politicians Still Up to their Sneaky Tricks: Walters
Californians like transparency when its comes to their elected leaders. Voters demanded that legislation be printed three days in advance when Proposition 54 passed in 2016. 'Mushroom Bills' Grow in the Dark But as CALmatters columnist Dan Walters notes in his June 14 piece, Sacramento lawmakers still find an end-around. With...