Building California’s Future: Current Conditions in Infrastructure Planning, Budgeting, and Financing

California’s identified infrastructure needs now outstrip available funds. To address this problem, the governor has charged the Commission on Building for the 21^st Century with investigating financial options for narrowing the gap between needs and resources.  This important and timely charge seems to neglect another important policy consideration: the way infrastructure decisions are made in the first place. In Building California’s Future: Current Conditions in Infrastructure Planning, Budgeting, and Financing, Michael Neuman and Jan Whittington examine California’s decision-making process at the state level.  Based on interviews with policymakers as well as a thorough review of laws, rules, and budgets, their study evaluates how state agencies, legislators, and the governor interact to plan, budget, finance, and prioritize infrastructure projects.