Democrats preach affordability while California’s budget bleeds billions | Opinion
The Sacramento Bee
By Robin Epley
It’s awfully hypocritical for the party to rail against Pres. Trump’s ballroom project when they’re also spending more than a billion dollars (of taxpayer money, to boot) on unnecessarily secretive & extensive renovations to a historical government building.
Uncovering More Sacramento Secrets
The John Kobylt Show on KFI
By John Kobylt
Katy Grimes comes on the show to talk about the new pictures released of the Capitol Annex Project that is costing California taxpayers more than $1 billion dollars as well as uncovering a few other secrets from Sacramento.
Capitol Controversy: Katy Grimes On California’s $1.1 Billion Annex Project
The Ray Appleton Show on 105.9 KMJ
By Ray Appleton and Katy Grimes
We explore why the $1.1 billion rebuild is sparking outrage, what it means for taxpayers, and the fight to preserve historic architecture.
Monstrosity: Photographic Evidence of California’s State Capitol Building Project
The California Globe
By Katy Grimes
The Globe is willing to bet that the project will balloon to $4 to $5 billion… place your bets!
Capitol Annex secrecy deepens as public still blocked from cost details
Lassen County Times
By Assembly Republicans, Special to LassenNews.com
This week, Assemblymembers Joe Patterson and Josh Hoover sent a letter to Newsom demanding full transparency.
Lack of transparency and rising costs are big concerns for Capitol Annex Project
FOX 26 News
By Karl Cooke
When it was originally proposed for the $455 million, Cowan says the commission was glad to see renovations would be happening for the annex building. But the feeling changed when learning the original building from 1950 would be torn down and rebuilt.
Despite Gov. Newsom's criticism, California Capitol Annex project leaders still won't say how much it's costing taxpayers
KCRA 3 News
By Ashley Zavala
The committee, led by Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco and State Senator John Laird, continues to withhold key financial records KCRA 3 asked for in a Legislative Open Records Request in August that would show the most recent construction cost estimates.
Capitol Annex Project Boondoggle
The John Kobylt Show
By John Kobylt
More on the Capitol Annex project boonjoggle going on up in Sacramento
What is Gov. Gavin Newsom's role in the California Capitol Annex project?
KCRA 3 News
By Ashley Zavala
The last public update on the project was in a hearing in April of 2021. The California Legislature's Joint Rules Committee said it planned to provide an update this year, but that never happened before state lawmakers left Sacramento for the rest of the year in September.
Gov. Newsom Is A Hypocrite
The John Kobylt Show
By John Kobylt
Newsom decided to hop in the debate about the construction of a ballroom at the White House all while over a billion dollars of taxpayer funds are being spent on renovating the state capitol building.
Column: The hypocrisy of this guy knows no bounds
The Ceres Courier
By Jeff Benzinger
The removal of the annex at the back of the capitol and replacing it with an expensive remodel will leave us with one of the most expensive buildings in the United States! The capital annex was built in the 1950s era and really didn’t need replacing.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized over Capitol Annex Project secrecy
Diya TV
By Sumit Jangir
California Gov. Gavin Newsom faced sharp criticism this week after a terse exchange with a reporter over his state’s Capitol Annex Project, a controversial $1.1 billion renovation that has drawn scrutiny for secrecy and skyrocketing costs.
Reporter calls out Newsom about his own $1.1B ‘ballroom’ equivalent cloaked in secrecy, his response says it all
Biz Pac Review
By Kevin Haggerty
Professional golfer Phil Mickelson added, “How a politician should duck, dodge, weave, avoid 1o1. [By the way], why does he say ‘Period. Full stop?’ So often. What does that even mean?”
Gov. Newsom Condescends to Media over Questions about Capitol Renovation Secrecy
The California Globe
By Katy Grimes
But the investigations by most media outlets into the Capitol Annex project costs and NDAs have gone nowhere. California Public Records requests have gone nowhere – most were denied for “security” reasons.
Gavin Newsom blasted over 'condescending' response to $1.1 billion California Capitol expansion as he blasts Trump ballroom renovation
The Daily Mail
By Stephen M. Lepore
The new $1.1 billion capitol building in Sacramento has been the subject of controversy for its cost and design, which include secret corridors for lawmakers to use to avoid the press.
Gov. Newsom says California Legislature's secrecy around Capitol Annex is 'inappropriate'
KCRA 3 News
By Ashley Zavala
It has been at least three years since the committee provided an update on the project, which was last estimated to be about $1.1 billion.
Save Our Capitol! Issues Statement Regarding Capitol Annex Project’s Escalating Costs
By Save Our Capitol!
“Chair Pacheco’s claim that litigation is to blame for the Capitol Annex Project’s escalating costs is false and misleading. The courts repeatedly found that the Project’s compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was legally deficient."
Newsom’s California Renovation Under Scrutiny Amid Trump White House Jibes
Newsweek
By Martha McHardy
Trump’s privately funded White House expansion has sparked outrage among his critics, even as California’s multibillion-dollar Capitol Annex Project—entirely taxpayer-funded and shielded by nondisclosure agreements—has drawn comparatively little national attention.
California bans NDAs for lawmakers after Capitol scandals
North County Pipeline
By Steve Puterski
Gov. Newsom signs bill outlawing NDAs in legislative negotiations after backlash over secrecy in billion-dollar projects, controversial fast-food minimum wage law
Sacramento won’t show us bill for new wing
The Orange County Register
By OCR Editorial Board
By so far, we mean that this billion-dollar baby is by no means completed yet, though exterior construction appears to be reaching its final stages. But by the time it opens in 2027, who knows what the bill will be? Because we don’t.
California lawmakers still won't say how much their new office building will cost
KCRA 3 News
By Ashley Zavala
The Joint Rules Committee earlier this spring said it would provide a public update on the project, but lawmakers failed to provide one before wrapping up their work in Sacramento last month. Pacheco did not respond to a request for comment on the situation.
California lawmakers approve bill to make it a crime for them to sign NDAs when negotiating state laws
KCRA 3 News
By Ashley Zavala
The California Assembly unanimously passed the measure in its final legislative vote Wednesday and sent it to Gov. Gavin Newsom to decide whether it becomes state law.
Politics, Power, and Hypocrisy: Why California Voters Are Losing Faith
The California Globe
By Hector Barajas
The Capitol Annex Project is another example of this arrogance. What was sold to the public as a $543 million renovation has now exploded to more than $1.1 billion.
Secrecy, cost overruns plague California’s billion-dollar Capitol annex project
CalMatters
By Richard Cowan
For more than half a decade, advocates of the state Capitol have sounded the alarm about the $1.1 billion Capitol annex project. This venture is a textbook example of how not to run a public works project.
California was a model for transparency. Now the Capitol operates in the dark
CalMatters
By Dan Walters
The Legislature has exempted the project from CEQA and refuses to release details on what is being built or its costs, despite the state’s chronic, multibillion-dollar budget deficit
Sacramento can’t even be honest about Capitol Annex
By The Orange County Register Editorial Board
What the public knows about the project has been long obscured by non-disclosure agreements thousands have been bound by under the project.
California legislature continues to violate open records laws, keep costs secret on Capitol Annex Project
KCRA 3 News
By Ashley Zavala
Project leaders have been repeatedly violating the state's open records laws.
The Untold Story Behind California's State Capitol $1.2 Billion Renovation | Bill George
By Bill George
Bill George, a historian, author, and filmmaker, delves into the significant transformations occurring at the California State Capitol, highlighting the broader implications of these changes on the state's history and cultural legacy.
Save Our Capitol! Statement on Budget Bills Undermining CEQA
By Save Our Capitol!
“Although we understand the urgent need to address California’s housing shortage, we are deeply disappointed by Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature’s continuing pattern of rolling back integral provisions of the landmark California Environmental Quality Act..."
Questions remained unanswered over State Capitol Annex Project
FOX 26 News
By Karl Cooke
"After requesting the reason for the rise in costs, FOX26 was given an automatic response that said they would reach back out as soon as possible. Nearly a week later and the station still hasn't been given a response."
Diamond in the Rough
Monterey County Now
By Kent Glazer
"This annex is a monument – not to California’s future, but to its political decay: a shiny mausoleum of arrogance, secrecy and fiscal abuse."
What We Are Fighting to Protect
By Save Our Capitol!
"The historic Capitol is an irreplaceable landmark, the most important historical building of its kind in California, and is a monument to the art, architecture, and craftsmanship of our past."
Why is a new office building for California lawmakers costing as much as an NFL stadium?
KCRA 3 News
By Ashley Zavala
"Despite repeated requests, no one with the Joint Rules Committee would do an interview with KCRA 3 about the project, even though the lawsuits are over."
CEQA Legislative Fix For State Capitol Renovation Upheld, All Work Performed Exempt
Downey Brand
By Dustin D. Peterson & Amy R. Higuera
"Rather than attempting broad CEQA reform measures to prevent projects from becoming mired in litigation, the Legislature has long shown a willingness to pass legislation to simplify the process for particular high-profile projects."
Sacramento Capitol Annex NDAs
KFBK Morning News
"Lawmakers who do not want you to know about the billions of taxpayer dollars they're spending on projects like fixing up their offices...they make people sign non disclosure agreements, forcing them to keep their mouths shut..."
California’s Capitol Annex project is exempt from CEQA, court rules
San Francisco Chronicle
By Bob Egelko
"One community group, Save Our Capitol, argued that the public was not given a meaningful opportunity to review SB174, which was announced, passed and signed into law within only 10 days."
San Francisco Chronicle Letters: "No more secrets"
San Francisco Chronicle
By Bob Ryan
"Right now in the Legislature, NDA might as well stand for No Democratic Accountability."
Third Time’s the Charm: Third District Crowns State the Winner By Legislative Decree In Third Published CEQA Decision Arising From Capitol Renovation Project
Lexology
By Miller Starr Regalia
"For the rest of the regulated community, which must comply with CEQA as written, the “takeaway” from California lawmakers here seems to be: 'Do as I say, not as I do.'"
CA lawmakers exempt Capitol Annex project from state enviro review law, can't be sued
Northern California Record
By Jonathan Bilyk
"The Save Our Capitol group mobilized in response, seeking to stop or modify the project"
Court Rules that California Capitol Annex Project Is Exempt from CEQA
California Globe
By Chris Micheli
"DGS unsuccessfully argued that the enactment of SB 174 made Save Our Capitol’s case 'moot.'"
Save Our Capitol! Responds to California Third District Court of Appeal’s Decision
By Save Our Capitol!
"By upholding the lower court’s ruling, California continues to prioritize political interests over public protection and existing law."
Capitol Annex Remodel Lacks Transparency
KFBK Morning News
By Mark Demsky
As KFBK's Mark Demsky reports, [lawmakers] do not want to talk about how much tax payer money they're spending to fix up their offices...
California Legislature uses non-disclosure agreements to keep Capitol Annex Project information secret
KCRA 3 News
By Ashley Zavala
"A total of 2,093 people signed the NDA, according to a list Joint Rules provided to KCRA 3 through a Legislative Open Records Act Request."
California Drops Millions on Italian Stonework!
FOX News Radio
"The California Legislature was hoping its constituents wouldn’t notice its leaders spent $5.2M to have granite shipped to Italy to be fabricated into bricks and then sent back to Cali..."
California Legislature quietly spends millions on Italian stonework for Capitol Annex Project
KCRA 3 News
By Ashley Zavala
"This state, in a number of different areas, requires certain things, requires certain standards. But when the Legislature itself wants to do a project, it does not want to follow those standards," Hoover said.
Save Our Capitol's Supplemental Brief re: Constitutionality of Senate Bill 174
By Save Our Capitol!
California Officials Can't Build By Their Own Rules
By Joe Matthews
Zócalo Public Square
"I wonder if retreat might be the wiser option. In tough budget times, many other state infrastructure programs could make better use of the $1 billion-plus dedicated to a new annex. And the Capitol does not require an annex."
Matthews: Capitol Annex Project Shrouded in Secrecy and Delays
By Joe Matthews
Ventura County Star
"But what’s most galling is the way that state government exempted its own project from the rules that govern building in California."
Political abuse of power attempts to silence the people and the courts
By Save Our Capitol!
Elected representatives cannot be allowed to undo environmental protections which inconvenience their pet projects...
Media outlets throughout the state have called out the Governor and the Legislature
By Save Our Capitol!
Despite these resources’ inestimable value, and despite the Court of Appeal having already found that the Legislature violated CEQA when it first approved the project, the Legislature voted in favor of SB 174 to exempt itself from the law.
Newsom denounces Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, but displays some himself
By Dan Walters
CalMatters
"Assembly Bill 174 contains a slew of items ... but one passage exempts the Legislature’s Capitol annex project from the California Environmental Quality Act. It aims to shut down efforts by two groups critical of the massive construction project to require changes."
Gavin Newsom likes to use the budget to skirt public debate and get what he wants. Did he do it again?
By Nicole Nixon
The Sacramento Bee
“Trailer bills are supposed to be used to clean up a budget issue. They aren’t supposed to be … the governor’s vehicles to push his own policies through the legislature quickly without deliberation.”
Sacramento Historical Society Presentation: Capitol Restoration
Sacramento Historical Society
By Dan Visnich
July 9, 2024
California lawmakers exempt their new office building from state environmental law
By Mackenzie Mays and Taryn Luna
Los Angeles Times
“It’s absolutely terrible. We’ve spent years trying to make this project better,” Cowan said. “It’s not good democracy. It’s not good government. It shows that someone knows how to play a trick card at the last minute.”
Controversial Capitol annex project would be exempt from environmental law under new bill
By Nicole Nixon
The Sacramento Bee
June 25, 2024
“It’s almost as if the legislature is saying, ‘We don’t want to follow the appeals court ruling and so we’re just going to take this out of the hands of the appeals court,’” ... “There still has not been adequate environmental review here.”
Third District Reverses Order Prematurely Discharging CEQA Writ for Failure to Address Objections That Certified Revised EIR Was Still Noncompliant, Holds Project Opponents Could Properly Opt to Raise Challenge ...
By Arthur F. Coon
Miller Starr Regalia / JD Supra
Save the West Side!
By Save Our Capitol!
"Visitor Center will Destroy the West Side of Our Historic Capitol—Forever! Save the West Side of Our Historic Capitol for the People of California!
Planned Capitol Annex Building– Glaringly Incompatible, Unsafe, Non-Compliant!
By Save Our Capitol!
"The Department of General Services approved the design of the new Annex ... without adequately analyzing and disclosing its incompatibility with the historic Capitol and its noncompliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards (SOIS)."
Save Our Capitol's Opening Brief
By Save Our Capitol!
February 27, 2024
Save Our Capitol! argues that the "planned new Annex, as designed, is visually incompatible with and would denigrate the appearance of the historic Capitol in violation of the SOIS [Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties]."
Dick Spotswood: Crucial time for executive recruitment in Marin County and Novato; Capitol Annex Fiasco
By Dick Spotswood
Marin Independent Journal
"It’s a boondoggle that should be halted at least until the deficit is eliminated. Even then, this project remains a frill the Golden State can do without."
Downtown Sacramento coffee shop is closing after nearly 20 years: ‘Pretty heartbreaking’
By Hanh Truong
The Sacramento Bee
"Nearby construction at the Capitol has also had a 'massive impact' on the shop, he said."
Construction at Sacramento Capitol Annex continues
By Eytan Wallace
FOX 40 News
DGS Once Again Fails in its Obligation to the Public
By Nicole Sauviat Criste,
Vice President, Terra Nova Planning & Research, Inc.
Reduce the Cost of the Annex Project: Park at the Swing Space
By Dick Cowan,
Historic State Capitol Commission Chair (resigned)
The Legislature Continues to Refuse to Provide Critical Documents
By Dick Cowan,
Historic State Capitol Commission Chair (resigned)
Save the Capitol’s West Steps: Move the Visitor Center
By Dick Cowan,
Historic State Capitol Commission Chair (resigned)
Denigrating the Capitol: New Annex is an Insult
By Milford Wayne Donaldson FAIA
A Glass Annex – A Heat Sink that Violates the Governor’s Climate Initiative
By Milford Wayne Donaldson FAIA
A Comprehensive Analysis, Annex’s Failure to Respect Capitol’s Architecture
By Milford Wayne Donaldson FAIA
Annex Project Impacts are Irreversible
By Karen Jacques, Ph.D.
Public Accountability for Our Capitol
Respect the Capitol’s History: Build a Compatible Annex Alternative
By Public Accountability for Our Capitol
Trees Are Being Decimated in Capitol Park
By Paula J. Peper
Urban Forest Ecologist, Historic State Capitol Commission Member (resigned)
There’s No Need for a Crystal Palace
By Bill Durston, M.D.
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sacramento
New Visitor Center Alternatives are Designed to Fail
By Save the Capitol, Save the Trees
Enough Already
By Bill Jurkovich
The Sacramento Bee
"Just restore the Capitol building and the adjacent park to their original historic status. Sacramento and the state will be better off for it."
The Capitol Annex Project is turning into Sacramento’s never-ending nightmare
By Samantha Corbin
The Sacramento Bee
"With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake — coupled with a substantial state budgetary deficit — the lack of a responsible guiding force and a coherent plan is concerning and irresponsible."
Concerns rise over stress caused to State Capitol grounds palm trees
CBS News Sacramento
"Some of the 140-year-old palm trees that were replanted during the California State Capitol annex project appear to be struggling."
Dozens of 141-year-old Sacramento palm trees are struggling to survive at the Capitol
By Nicole Nixon
Capital Public Radio
"There’s no replacing something over a century old."
Activists worry for health of 141-year-old palm trees uprooted for California Capitol Annex Project
CBS Sacramento
By James Taylor
"These palms were moved a month ago and Pskowski says they're already showing signs of stress."
What’s going on behind all those blanketed gates at the California Capitol? We peeked inside
The Sacramento Bee
By Hanh Truong
"No agency, department or lawmaker gave a timeline or progress update."
A Battle Lost, But a War Not Over – Save Our Capitol! Continues the Fight to Save the Historic West Steps
By Save Our Capitol!
"While the historic Annex has been thrown away by the Legislature, the West Lawn, West Plaza, and West Steps still can be preserved and remain a pivotal place..."
Crews demolish part of the Capitol Annex
FOX 40 News
By Sergio Robles
"The demolition work is part of a plan that will eventually see a new structure built in its place that is connected to the main building, although the design of the new structure has not yet been finalized"
Part of California State Capitol demolished on Monday
CBS News Sacramento
By Richard Ramos
"What they are proposing is a building that overpowers the Capitol"
Perata: Stop the Capitol Annex Project
By Former Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata
"I served my time in the notorious East Annex; however, that doesn’t mean I think it deserves to be torn down."
The State Capitol Billion Dollar Boondoggle
By Richard Stevenson
California Globe
"The Legislature would best serve the public by heeding numerous local, statewide, and federal government precedents..."
'Save Our Capitol' group calls for stopping the demolition of the West Steps
By ABC 10 News
"The West Steps of the California State Capitol is set to be off limits the next 2 years, said one community group wanting to stop the partial demolition."
Group rallies to save the west steps at the California capitol
By KCRA 3 News
"A rally was held at the state capitol in Sacramento to preserve the steps on the west side of the capitol."
A Tree From Every Nation on Earth: California's Capitol Park Trees Under Threat
By Paula Peper
American Society of Consulting Arborists
"When most people think of state capitols, they think legislation, legislators, and governors, not trees and parks. From its beginnings in the 1860s, plans for the California State Capitol in Sacramento were different."
After a lawsuit, here’s how to comment on proposed changes to the California state Capitol
By Nicole Nixon
Capital Public Radio
“I don't think the glass is compatible, period,” he said. “It's easy to make a modern building compatible with a historic building.”
She Saved My Life
By Paula Jan Peper
Women in Natural Resources
"As I fought to keep him from plunging towards the trees and boulders at meadow's edge, fought to keep from being catapulted over his head, his legs suddenly slipped out from under him and both of us lost the precarious balance we’d had."
Planned construction could forever change the California Capitol’s west steps. What would that mean for protests and events?
By Nicole Nixon
Capital Public Radio
“I have heard from a lot of people in Sacramento who have concerns about it,” [Freshman state Sen. Angelique Ashby, a Democrat who represents Sacramento] said during an event in March.
The Design of the New Annex and Compliance with The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings
By Milford Wayne Donaldson FAIA
"From a moral standpoint, it is shameless to continue construction by abolishing historic preservation standards that other entities must follow."
