The State - News from May 16, 1986

The U.S. Department of Transportation has authorized $43,640,000 in emergency relief funds to repair California highways damaged by early spring floods, U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) announced. The funds will be released to Caltrans immediately, but federal transportation officials estimated that only about $27 million will be spent by the end of the current fiscal year in October. Wilson is pushing a bill that would raise the $30-million ceiling on emergency relief funds that any state may receive annually, thus allowing California to spend the entire $43 million this summer, if necessary. The funds are being allocated to various Northern and Central California counties hard hit by heavy rains in February and early March.