Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bid to place an ambitious state rebuilding project on California’s June 6 ballot died last week when lawmakers refused to vote to qualify the bond measure. The plan would have included at least $7 billion for building new schools and expanding existing ones.
The Assembly, the legislature’s lower house, approved a $10 billion borrowing plan for school construction to put before voters in June, but the Senate acted only to allow $1 billion in borrowing to repair the state’s aging levee system.
A spokeswoman for the governor said he hopes to reach agreement with legislators in time for the general election in November.
The governor had forged an agreement with Democrats—who control both chambers of the legislature—on a $49 billion public-works bond for the June ballot, but had not mustered support for the measure among his fellow Republicans.
