California starts, completes largest municipal bond sale in U.S. history.

• Position: News Briefs - Brief Article

The California Department of Water Resources initiated the largest municipal bond sale in history October 23 by selling $4.25 billion worth of floating-rate power purchase revenue bonds. The DWR issued an additional $6.3 billion of tax-exempt, fixed-rate revenue bonds and $710 million in taxable revenue bonds during the first week of November. Proceeds from the bond sales will reimburse the state's general fund and pay off bank loans for money borrowed to buy power during the energy 2001 crisis. The debt is secured by a special charge on 10 million customers of the state's...