Interest Growing in Economic Recovery Bond

California cities, counties and school districts could avoid drastic cuts to vital public services under a proposal by Bay Area Council CEO Jim Wunderman that is gaining interest among opinion and policy leaders. Syndicated columnist Thomas Elias, whose commentary appears in 70 newspapers across the state, endorsed Wunderman’s plan for an Economic Recovery Bond to help ease the fiscal pain from an economic shutdown that has decimated state and municipal budgets.

An Economic Recovery Bond, Elias wrote, “could solve virtually all today’s problems, and was first proposed by Jim Wunderman, CEO of the business-oriented Bay Area Council. If most economic experts are correct and California’s fundamentals remain sound enough for a major comeback after a vaccine debuts, this is an obvious way out.”

Read Thomas Elias’ commentary>>

The Council also has been talking with several legislators who are interested to learn more about the idea, and we met this week with state Treasurer Fiona Ma’s team to share our thinking on how a bond can provide a financial bridge until the economy gets back to full strength.