California is set to make its final payment today on $15 billion in costly borrowing championed a decade ago by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
As one of his first major actions in office, the Republican governor led a bipartisan campaign in 2004 to persuade voters to approve the bonds to close the state’s budget deficit. Voters approved Proposition 57, but the budget deficits quickly reappeared and the debt service from the bonds added to California’s fiscal woes.
