Waste Of The Day: Secrecy Surrounds California Capitol Annex

Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations,

Topline: An annex to California’s Capitol Building was supposed to cost $543 million, but the price has doubled to $1.1 billion and now includes hallways designed to hide lawmakers from journalists.

Key facts: KCRA 3 reported that the annex will include a new parking garage and visitor’s center and office space for 120 state lawmakers. The news station pointed out it is almost as expensive as the $1.3 billion spent on Levi’s Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers’ football stadium that seats 68,500 people.

KCRA 3’s sources revealed the annex will include private hallways. The building’s current layout means lawmakers must walk through a public “swing space” to get from hearing rooms to the elevators, where journalists can ask them questions about the day’s proceedings. The new layout will allow lawmakers to avoid the swing space.

Other details are still unknown. There has not been a public update on how tax dollars are being spent since 2021. The Joint Rules Committee of the state legislature, which is overseeing the project, denied KCRA 3’s request for an interview and did not provide diagrams of the private hallways.

Taxpayers might have learned more from the project’s environmental impact report, which all public construction projects must complete under the California Environmental Quality Act. But lawmakers wrote a bill that exempts the Capitol annex from the report and signed it into law just 10 days later. The law was upheld by a state court of appeals.

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Supporting quote:  State Senate Pro Tempore Mike McGuire told KCRA 3, “Secure corridors have always been included in plans for the new annex … and are designed to help ensure the safety and security of lawmakers, which is even more important today given the events that unfolded on January 6th at our nation’s capital building and the active threats public officials continue to face. Regardless, legislators will continue to be accessible and responsive to the public, staff, and reporters no matter what hallway, elevator or stairwell they choose to use.”

Critical quote: “I think this is the height of hypocrisy,” state Assemblyman Josh Hoover told KCRA 3 about the hallways. “You are using taxpayer dollars for a taxpayer-funded facility and yet you are going to design it in a way that shields you from the public and shields you from accountability.”

Summary: A $1.1 billion taxpayer-funded project should have full transparency and be in the public’s best interest. California’s new Capitol annex might not meet either of those criteria.

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