SAN FRANCISCO — California Treasurer Bill Lockyer has tentatively set a $10 billion revenue anticipation note sale for August as part of the state’s annual cash flow balancing act.
“Both the timing and amount could change,” Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar said in an email late Monday. “The amount will be finalized after the state budget is adopted and cash flow projections are updated.”
JPMorgan and Wells Fargo have been hired to jointly manage the deal and De La Rosa & Co will serve as co-senior manager, according to a statement from the treasurer’s office.
State Finance Director Ana Matosantos said last month the state would stick to its projection in the governor’s January budget plan to use $9.5 billion of external financing for its cash flow.
State lawmakers are expected to finalize the budget this week after passing a spending plan blueprint earlier in the month and then reaching an agreement last week with Gov. Jerry Brown on controversial details.
Lockyer’s most recent note sale happened in February when the state sold $1 billion of privately-placed debt as part of a plan to shore up cash flow after California Controller John Chiang warned that California would run out of cash unless it adopted $3.3 billion of short-term measures.
In recent years, the treasurer has also had to be fleet-footed in the debt markets to balance out state revenues that come in stronger in the second half of the year.
Last year, Lockyer took out a $5.4 billion bridge loan in July from a group of eight banks in an effort to avoid potential market chaos caused by Congress’ wrangling over the debt ceiling. The loan let the state postpone its regular Ran sale until September, when it sold notes of the same amount.
In 2010, Lockyer received a bridge loan of $6.7 billion to give the state time to prepare a Ran sale after the state budget was adopted 100 days late. The treasurer sold $10 billion of notes in the public markets that November to help repay the Rans.
And in 2009, California faced a cash crunch because of another late budget, which forced Chiang to issue IOUs instead of the usual annual note sale.
Cash flow problems associated with late budgets appear to have been moderated by Proposition 25, which passed in 2010 and has since forced lawmakers to pass a budget on time or else forgo pay. It also lowered the threshold for passing a budget to a majority of votes from a super majority.
