Institute of Urban and Regional Development

Over the next ten years, California faces a daunting infrastructure challenge. According to the California State Treasurer's Office, the state needs to invest $82 billion to repair and maintain current structures and build new ones. Projected state and local revenue sources will meet only about 50% of this need. Unfortunately, California's infrastructure planning and financing process seems to be broken as well. According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, the state government (a) lacks a stable funding source for infrastructure investment programs, (b) reviews these programs on an ad hoc basis, and (c) does not have an administrative or legislative evaluation of infrastructure investment requirements. This commentary argues that many states, including California, need to rethink their approach toward infrastructure planning and finance.