By The OCR Editorial Board
“We just want to see the receipts. We just want to see the receipts,” the news anchors of Sacramento television station KCRA kept saying.
They were joining in the fray after their colleague feisty investigative reporter Ashley Zavala concluded her latest deep dive into the years of “No comment” from California legislative leaders over the actual cost to taxpayers of a mammoth new office wing at the state Capitol.
It’s TV news in our state the way it used to be back when there were lots of cranky consumer-friendly reporters nailing car dealerships for peddling lemons, and the like.
Only it’s not about getting better bang for the buck in stores and on auto lots. It’s reporting that asks for more transparency about exactly what kind of bill Californians are getting for the privilege of buying their lawmakers newly expanded digs. And those legislators are simply not answering KCRA’s questions.
“California lawmakers overseeing the construction of a new office building for the state Legislature and the governor are still refusing to say how much it will cost taxpayers and have failed to provide the public update they had promised earlier this year,” Zavala writes.
It’s called the Capitol Annex Project, and all we know as of last spring is that the cost — so far — was $1.1 billion for a building that had an original cost estimate of $543.2 million total in 2018.
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.
“The project team is analyzing the financial implications resulting from the litigation and related changes in project scope,” Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, the Democrat who leads the Joint Rules Committee that oversees the project, told Zavala. But that lawsuit Pacheco referred to was resolved a year ago this month. Her committee said last spring that it would soon provide a public update on the project, but lawmakers did not do so before they wrapped up their business in Sacramento and recessed last month. Pacheco did not respond to a request for comment from the TV station.
We have lamented before that as the costs for the 525,000-square-foot building were doubling, about 2,000 people in Sacramento were required to sign NDAs, agreements that legally forced them to keep information about the project secret. Those who signed included members of the state Assembly and Senate and dozens of government officials.
“I would think if the project were on time and on budget, they would be bragging about it. The fact that they have not come forward should be a warning flag to everyone in California,” said Jon Coupal, the president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.”The politicians seem to be building an edifice to themselves.”
Zavala has particularly enjoyed reporting one literally secretive aspect of the project: “Lawmakers also added a secret hallway system that will allow them to avoid the public while moving through the new building. Legislative leaders have refused to say or provide documentation to show how much that will cost.”
Come clean, Sacramento, about what your offices are costing us. Why can’t those of us who are picking up the tab at least see the bill?
