Legislation News
Legislature Considers Bond Bills
March 16, 2006
The state legislature is currently considering bills that would place a series of general obligation bonds on either the June or November, 2006 ballot. If approved by two thirds of both houses in the state legislature, the bonds would then need to receive 50% (plus one) of the votes on election day to pass. The bonds will fund for public school construction at campuses from Kindergarten to University. Each campus in the UC system will receive funds to support its capital program.
The Governor’s January Budget proposed $345 million per year in much-needed capital funding for UC facilities’ construction and renewal projects over the next 10 years. In addition, the capital budget proposes another $400 million over 10 years for UC initiatives to improve health care to underserved Californians via expansion of the University’s Programs in Medical Education (PRIME) and telemedicine capacity. These programs include UC Irvine’s PRIME-LC, focusing on the medical needs of the Latino community, and UC Davis’s PRIME-RC, which utilizes telemedicine and electronic technology to bring world-class health consultation to rural underserved residents. UC proposes increasing UC medical student enrollment by approximately 10 percent systemwide (or by approximately 250-300 new first-year medical students) through PRIME as well as increasing UC medical resident enrollment by a roughly equivalent amount.
Legislators and the Governor are currently in negotiations to place a bond package before voters. This package includes infrastructure bonds to finance road and levee improvements, in addition to the education bonds. Any bond proposal must be put on the ballot by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the state legislature. In order to pass, the bond will need a 50% plus one vote of the electorate.
As it stands now, the legislature appears to have passed the deadline to place bonds on the June, 2006 primary ballot. It looks increasingly likely that the bonds will appear on the November, 2006 General Election ballot.
UCLA Specific Bond Impact
- Proposition 47 in 2002 provided $25 million for seismic restoration of the Engineering 1 building. Proposition 55 in 2004 provided $70 million for Geology, Campbell, and GSEIS.
- Projects that would benefit from future bond measures would include the following buildings: Life Sciences Replacement Building, Clark Library Seismic Correction, CHS South Tower Seismic Renovation-Stage A, CHS South Tower Seismic Renovation Stage B, and Engineering Replacement Stage B. UCLA would receive approximately $150 million from future bond measures. This figure is about half of the total cost of the projects and would be used to leverage non-state resources to finish the construction and/or renovations.
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