SACRAMENTO — State Treasurer Phil Angelides, a Democratic candidate for governor, proposed that the state’s pension funds invest $15 billion to improve the state’s water supply, bridges and energy transmission, as well as speed the movement of goods out of ports.
Angelides said his proposal was intended to supplement any infrastructure plan that might emerge from the Legislature. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a huge public works spending plan earlier this year, but the Legislature has not yet agreed to put a version of it on the ballot.
Last month, legislators missed a deadline to place a bond package on the June ballot. It is still possible to get something on the November ballot, although without a deadline looming, legislative leaders have no incentive to act quickly.
Sen. President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, issued statements supporting Angelides’ proposal.
No legislative action is necessary to enact it, although the pension boards would have to approve.
Meanwhile, Angelides’ main rival for the nomination, state Controller Steve Westly, proposed a series of education reforms during a speech in Los Angeles that included calling for more local school control and channeling additional aid to struggling students.
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But he provided few specifics on how any changes would be funded.
Among his suggestions, Westly said schools could get a larger cut of state lottery revenue.
Schools now get about 34 cents for every dollar spent on lottery tickets, with 54 cents going to prizes. The balance goes to administrative and other game costs.
"We believe that an awful lot of voters thought that a larger piece was going to be going to public education,” Westly told reporters, referring to lottery funds.
But even if the schools were given the larger share that now goes to prizes, 54 percent, "I don’t want to suggest to anybody that if we switched it ... that we’d immediately see an extra $500 million in public education,” he said.
In a statement, Angelides’ campaign said Westly’s plan "provides no hope for moving our schools forward,” since the lottery provides less than 2 percent of state school funding.
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