The California Highway Patrol (CHP) operates 166 major facilities in addition to its headquarters and academy. The Governor's budget proposes $7,361,000 from the Motor Vehicle Account of the State Transportation Fund for six major projects and statewide studies, preplanning, budget packages, property options, and appraisals.
We recommend that the Legislature delete $2.4 million requested for working drawings and construction because site acquisition has not been completed and preliminary plans will not be finished before August 2000. (Delete $2,372,000 under Item 2720-301-0044 [4].)
The 1999-00 Budget Act appropriated $2,341,000 for acquisition and preliminary plans for a replacement facility at South Lake Tahoe. The Governor's budget requests $2,372,000 for working drawings and construction. The CHP indicates the Department of General Services (DGS) has not completed its search for a site for this facility but it probably will be located at the Department of Food and Agriculture's agricultural inspection station in Meyers. The DGS expects to complete its site search and acquire the property by June 2000. The DGS indicates preliminary plans for the project will be started in April 2000 (prior to site acquisition) and completed in August 2000.
Given the status of this project, the Legislature has insufficient information to consider the request for working drawings and construction. In essence, the Legislature has no more information than was available last year. Consequently, we recommend the Legislature delete the $2,372,000 for this project under Item 2720-301-0044 (4). The proposal may warrant legislative consideration if the administration expedites the project schedule to complete the site acquisition and preliminary plans before budget hearings are completed.
We recommend deletion of $305,000 for working drawings because site acquisition has not been completed and preliminary plans will not be finished until January 2001. (Delete $305,000 from Item 2720-301-0044 [6].)
The 1999-00 Budget Act appropriated $1,550,000 for acquisition and preliminary plans for a replacement CHP office at Monterey. The Governor's budget requests $305,000 for working drawings. The DGS does not expect to complete site acquisition until November 2000 and preliminary plans will not be finished until January 2001. The status of this project is similar to the South Lake Tahoe project discussed above. For the same reasons outlined above, we recommend that the Legislature delete the $305,000 requested for the Monterey project.