Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a dramatic boost in federal, private and state infrastructure investment during the 2008 Milken Institute Global Conference this week. “Infrastructure is the foundation for future economic growth, but for far too long California has been living off of the infrastructure investments of the past and not renewing those investments,” Gov. Schwarzenegger said. In 2006, California voters approved $42 billion in infrastructure bonds to rebuild California’s roads, schools, parks, levees and housing. “The bonds approved by voters in 2006 were a huge down payment and will go a long way toward updating California’s infrastructure, but more is needed to meet the demands of the state’s growing population and our aging roads, schools, parks, buildings and levees,” the Governor said. To address California’s infrastructure gap, which the Department of Finance estimates at $500 billion over the next two decades, the Governor has proposed new policies to improve how California builds and finances infrastructure by enabling the broad use of Performance Based Infrastructure Schwarzenegger also joined with Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg earlier to form a new bipartisan, multi-state coalition called “Building America’s Future” to rally support for federal infrastructure investment.
