Underwriters of Schwarzenegger's California $20 billion bond issue just passed by Congress today (5 May 2006)?

May 5, 2006 10:19 AM

Who is underwriting Schwarzenegger's California $20 billion bond issue just passed by Congress today (5 May 2006)?

I can't seem to find it on google news or newsvine or anywhere...I mean, isn't it reasonable to ask who the underwriters are when a bond issue this huge is being passed? Or am I misunderstanding how bonds are drafted? Wouldn't these underwriters make a HUGE pretty penny just from the fees?

posted by blythe to Law & Government (7 answers total)

Response by poster: Correction: the bond issue is $37.3 billion.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/05/state/n031509D98.DTL
posted by blythe at 10:25 AM on May 5, 2006

You can see who is underwriting and advising current bond sales for California here.
posted by milkrate at 11:05 AM on May 5, 2006

FWIW, here is the text of the bill.
posted by gemini at 11:11 AM on May 5, 2006

milkrate: that link would suggest that there is no underwriter, which is entirely plausible given that there's no shortage of demand for California paper.
posted by patricio at 11:50 AM on May 5, 2006

Doesn't a government normally underwrite its own bonds?
posted by cillit bang at 12:01 PM on May 5, 2006

I would say that a government's ability to tax allows them to underwrite their own bonds.
posted by geoff. at 12:47 PM on May 5, 2006

I wouldn't think it would be listed, since it won't be voted on until November. See this list, too.

(it's a different definition of underwrite - an underwriter, among other things, buys all of the bonds from a state/local gov't [or other issuer] and finds investors to re-sell them to)
posted by milkrate at 1:10 PM on May 5, 2006