Statewide bond propositions (California)

Laws • History
List of propositions

Statewide bond propositions in California are mandated by Article XVI of the California Constitution. Section 1 of Article XVI says that the California State Legislature can't borrow ("create a debt") more than $300,000 unless the legislature agrees to enter into the debt "...by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to each house of the Legislature and until, at a general election or at a direct primary, it shall have been submitted to the people and shall have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at such election."

Size of indebtedness

As of January 2010, California has a total bond debt of $89 billion from previous bond issues approved by the state's voters. The state makes yearly debt payments of about $10 billion on its $89 billion debt load.

Public works projects in California worth hundreds of millions of dollars may be jeopardized starting in the summer of 2010 because of California's continuing fiscal crisis. California's treasurer said in late January 2010 that a long-standing political dispute over the state's $20 billion deficit could keep California from selling enough bonds in time to pay for ongoing projects.

California attempted to sell $4.4 billion of bonds in the fall of 2009, but was unable to sell all of it and, as a result, "millions earmarked last year for affordable housing and land acquisition...never materialized."

References

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