To boost state transportation funding, Governor Pataki and NY State lawmakers agreed last month to put a $2.9 billion state-backed bond issue before voters on November 8^th. If passed, the bond together with the already-approved state budget would provide $21.1 billion over 5 years for transit, and an equal amount to fix roads and bridges controlled by the NY State Department of Transportation.

But passage of the bond measure is by no means certain. In 2000, voters rejected a $3.8 billion transportation bond issue. Defeat of that measure was largely blamed on the lack of concrete information about what the funds would pay for, though upstate hostility toward downstate transit funding may also have been an issue. The measure did poorly in eastern Long Island as well. One factor favoring the act’s passge this year is that New York City voter turnout will be heavier than in 2000, because of the mayoral race.

In 2000, the state’s fuzzy explanation of how the revenue would be spent wasn’t issued until August, giving voters only a few months to try to read the tea leaves and backers little time to craft and deliver supportive messages.

This time around, officials in Albany have set a June 1^st deadline to complete a memorandum of understanding outlining how bond act proceeds would be used. This should help its cause in November because voters tend to be more willing to issue public debt when they have a sense of where the money will go.

They will have to use care in crafting the project list so that it appeals to a variety of constituencies. Some groups are already threatening to line up no votes regarding the measure if it promises funds for mass transit expansion. The New York State Conservative Party’s executive director Shaun Marie Levine recently told the Bond Buyer, "If they are talking about the Second Avenue subway, we would obviously not support it."

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