California Lawmakers Eye More Than $100 Billion of Borrowing
- State lawmakers are considering several large bond measures
- State debt service ratio already set to rise to 3.2% from 2.8%
San Francisco Department of Public Works workers repair a pot hole.
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California is on the verge of a potential borrowing boom as Democratic state lawmakers draft more than $100 billion of municipal-bond proposals to fill funding gaps for several key legislative priorities.
The proposals include $15 billion of debt to make the state more resilient to climate change, $14 billion to modernize schools and $10 billion for affordable housing. Governor Gavin Newsom last year approved a $6.38 billion bond measure for voters to consider on the March ballot which would fund roughly 10,000 new mental health and substance abuse treatment slots.