NORTH COUNTY - In Tuesday's State of the State address, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger laid out an ambitious agenda for the legislative year, including proposals to build more prisons, classrooms and water projects.

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Before the speech, administration officials unveiled the governor's proposal to borrow $43.3 billion in bonds to build prisons, schools and dams. It was similar to a $42.7 billion plan that voters approved in November, but the governor said the "job is not done yet."

"As I said last year, California's population is expected to increase by as much as 30 percent over the next 20 years," the governor said in his speech. "That is the equivalent of adding three new cities the size of Los Angeles. We have to prepare for that growth."

The governor is calling for $29.4 billion in general obligation bonds, which require voter approval, and $13.9 billion in lease revenue and other bonds, which the administration says would not need to be approved by voters.

Mike Genest, Schwarzenegger's finance director, said the state can afford the new borrowing because it is paying off early the bonds voters authorized in 2004 to reduce the budget deficit that ballooned after the dot-com crash.

Some financial analysts said the proposed borrowing plan was so large that it could take days to fully analyze its effect on California's budget. Some economists immediately criticized the concept as shortsighted.

"The tendency for the state to borrow is extremely unwise," said Edward Leamer, director of UCLA's Anderson Forecast. "It's pushing spending on to the next generation, and that's not fair and it's not wise. … Borrowing is not some magical way to pay for what the state provides."

Schwarzenegger said the state needs new prisons to relieve overcrowding. The prisons are so full that the federal courts are threatening to intervene by capping the inmate population and potentially ordering early releases of criminals.

The governor also wants to spend $4 billion on new dams in Northern California and near Fresno, an idea most Democrats and environmentalists vehemently oppose. He wants to spend another $500 million on ground water storage.

Schwarzenegger said the dams are necessary to store more of the water from Sierra snow melt, which could be reduced by global warming. Two-thirds of Californians depend on the snow melt for drinking water, and Central Valley farmers use it to irrigate their fields.

The school bonds would build 15,000 new classrooms and renovate another 40,000, in addition to the $10.4 billion school bond voters approved last year.

Janet Bledsoe Lacy, a member of the Oceanside Unified School District board of trustees, said schools could use more money for classrooms. She said she had not heard the governor's speech but had heard some of the news coverage.

"I do believe that the governor has a strong commitment to education," she said. But for too long the state's spending on education has fallen behind. "I can't think of a better thing for the state to spend on."

Schwarzenegger, who will release his budget plan today, said his spending plan would fully fund education and "dramatically reduce" the state's estimated $4 billion deficit.

State Sen. Mark Wyland, R-Carlsbad, called the governor's speech "ambitious and visionary," but said he wanted to hear more of the details.

"A lot of what we heard tonight may sound good in concept, but I want to know more specifics," Wyland said. "Details matter, and right now they are not available. The main concern I have is, once again, how do we fund these proposals?"

On Monday, Schwarzenegger unveiled a sweeping plan that would require all Californians to have health insurance and would extend coverage to more low-income children, including those who are in the country illegally. He said people who have insurance pay a "hidden tax" in the form of higher premiums to cover the nearly 6.5 million people who have no medical coverage.

Barbara Mannino, executive director of the Vista Community Clinic, said she liked the governor's health reform plan, but also said she wanted to learn more about it.

"I'm excited, and I have cautious optimism," Mannino said. "The overview is wonderful, but how is it actually going to be implemented?"

Children's advocates and some Democrats criticized a Schwarzenegger plan unveiled Sunday to cut off welfare aid to children whose parents don't meet minimum work requirements or who are in the country illegally. Administration officials said the reduction would trim $465 million from the state's welfare budget.

"Cash assistance is used for minimal basic necessities: food, medicine, clothing and shelter," said Deena Lahn, policy director for Children's Defense Fund California. "Where are the children going to go when there is no money to pay the rent and keep the lights on?"

In his speech, Schwarzenegger also delved back into the global warming issue.

He said cars should run on cleaner-burning fuel to help reduce greenhouse gases, mostly carbon dioxide, that many experts say are causing the Earth's atmosphere to warm. And he proposed that California become the first to develop a carbon fuel standard.

"Let us blaze the way, for the U.S., for China and for the rest of the world," Schwarzenegger said. "Our cars have been running on dirty fuel for too long. Our country has been dependent on foreign oil for too long."

Though the governor struck a bipartisan tone in his inaugural address Friday, Democratic leaders said they will fight some of the governor's proposals announced this week, including his plan to cut welfare.

"We won't take breakfast away from poor children and will not allow Wall Street traders to control our fight against global warming," Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said in a televised Democratic response to the state of the state.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.