Analysis of the 2004-05 Budget Bill Legislative Analyst's Office February 2004

California Science Center (1100)

The California Science Center is a science and technology education facility owned and operated by the state. A nine-member board of directors appointed by the Governor administers the center. The center consists of a number of facilities located south of downtown Los Angeles. In 2002, the Legislature approved funding for a second phase of development to expand the center in accordance with its master plan for capital development. The Phase II expansion is planned to be funded by a combination of state and donor funds, and will provide a 170,000 gross square feet (gsf) facility containing 120,000 gsf for exhibitions and support services, and 50,000 gsf for staff offices. The project also includes exterior exhibit and service areas. Live animal exhibits include a rain forest, a desert exhibit, and a two-story reef tank. No capital outlay proposals are included in the 2004-05 budget for the center. Below, we discuss the department's infrastructure plan, and future projects and issues. The 2004-05 budget does not include any capital outlay funding for the center. However, below we raise informational issues for legislative consideration.

Infrastructure Plan

The 2003 California's Five Year Infrastructure Plan shows the center identified $4.4 million in infrastructure needs during the 2003-04 through 2007-08 period. The bulk of this total—$3.5 million—is for preliminary plans to design and construct a third phase of development to expand the center. The prior administration did not support any funding for the center in the infrastructure plan because the Phase III expansion was only conceptual in nature. Figure 1 shows the amounts identified by the center in the plan.

Future Projects and Issues

We recommend the center report at budget hearings on the status of raising the necessary nonstate funds for construction of the Phase II expansion project.

In the 2002-03 Budget Act, the Legislature provided $19 million of lease revenue bond funding for the state's share of construction costs for a $97 million Phase II expansion project. As a condition of receiving these funds, the center agreed to raise nearly $78 million from nonstate sources to complete the project. As of January 2004, the center reported it had raised around $53 million (55 percent) of the nonstate funds.

Construction of the Phase II expansion was to have started in April 2003, but has not yet begun. Also, as noted above, the center has raised only about 55 percent of the necessary nonstate funds. We recommend the center report at budget hearings on the status of raising the necessary nonstate funds for construction of the Phase II expansion project.