California to start 5,000+ infrastructure projects

Governor Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday that the state would restart more than 5,000 infrastructure projects, which had been on hold since December 2008. The state has begun the process of selling $6.85 billion in bonds, of which $5.2 billion are backed by the federal government as part of the economic recovery act passed in February. California is the first state to issue these federally-backed Build America Bonds.

According to the governor's website, the funding will be allocated as follows:

• $1.7 billion for the state’s taxable general obligation bonds to fund stem cell research and stem cell related projects, various housing programs, and additional needs for High Speed Rail.
• $5.2 billion on projects for California State University, the University of California, California Community Colleges, Caltrans and the Department of Water Resources, school construction projects, environmental and park projects, grant programs to support clean air (engine retrofits and clean port projects), wastewater treatments projects, improvements to drinking water infrastructure, children’s hospitals, public safety grants and local library grant projects.

(If you're a math wiz, you probably noticed this adds up to $.05 billion more than the total bond proceeds of $6.85 billion. Did they think we wouldn't notice an extra $50 million in spending?)

The press relates announced that a complete list of the more than 5,000 projects will be available shortly at http://www.dof.ca.gov/.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide you an exact definition for what the state considers "available shortly."