Budget Would Speed County Freeway Work, Boost UCI

The Deukmejian Administration’s budget proposals would hasten completion of Orange County freeway projects and provide more construction money for UC Irvine than any other University of California campus in 1987-88, state and county officials said Thursday.

The governor’s proposed $39-billion budget for the next fiscal year calls for hiring several hundred new employees for the California Department of Transportation to end long delays plaguing projects that already have been approved.

Last year, Orange County transportation officials strongly criticized Caltrans for falling one to three years behind on several projects, including widening of the Santa Ana Freeway.

While the administration’s proposals do not spell out which highway projects would benefit first, officials including state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) and Supervisor Bruce Nestande, a member of the state Transportation Commission, said they were certain Orange County traffic problems, among the worst in the state, would receive prompt attention.

“I think this means that the governor is committed to seeing that highway projects come in on time,” said Seymour, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee.

“It’s a commitment by the governor that we’re going to get projects done, said Nestande.

Added state Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim): “The extra 400 Caltrans engineers are going to be a big benefit in terms of adding the two lanes to each freeway in the county that has been planned, but which has been difficult to get started. I think Orange County will notice a difference. There will be less congestion, eventually.”

The budget proposals unveiled Thursday contained no county-by-county breakdowns on how most state money would be allocated.

But the governor’s budget does include specific items calling for more construction spending at UC Irvine than on any other University of California campus. Deukmejian is asking the Legislature to appropriate $40.7 million for a new biological sciences building on the crowded Irvine campus and $9 million to build a new cancer treatment center at the UCI Medical Center in Orange.

The proposed budget also includes $725,000 to pay for preliminary plans and working drawings for renovation of UCI’s existing Physical Sciences Building.

In describing the need for the $40.7-million biological sciences building, the governor’s budget said, “Shortages of space to house the (School of Biological Sciences) programs have been caused by substantial enrollment increases and by the emergence of high technology approaches to biological sciences research and instruction.”

The statement also noted that “28% of the undergraduate students at Irvine major in the biological sciences.”

The $9-million cancer-treatment center would be built on vacant UCI Medical Center land on the City Drive near the Santa Ana Freeway.

UCI Vice Chancellor Kathy Jones said Thursday that the center, described as a 35,000-square-foot module, would be the focal point of the medical center’s cancer care. She said that currently cancer treatment must be spread out among five buildings at the medical center.

As for the over-all state budget, Jones said, “what we see is a good infusion of capital funds that will allow us to keep up with the (growing) enrollment, and this is very important to us and the county.”

The governor’s budget reflected only a small sum--$387,000--for Cal State Fullerton construction. The funds would be used for planning a proposed $22-million new wing for the school’s science building, McCarthy Hall. Cal State Fullerton would request the rest of the money in later years.

Power Plant Funds Sought

Construction of the new wing is planned for the spring of 1989, said James Sharp, associate vice president for facility planning and construction at Cal State Fullerton.

Cal State Fullerton also is seeking $4.7 million in state funds to build an innovative new power plant to serve the campus. Called a co-generation plant, the facility would simultaneously produce electricity and heating or cooling for campus buildings. However, there was no provision in the governor’s budget for the plan.

Shawn Choudhuri, energy program manager at the California State University system office in Long Beach, said Thursday that Cal State Fullerton is asking for $4.3 million in state funds this year for the proposed plant. He said the money is not included in the governor’s budget because the funds would come from the state Energy Revenue Fund that was created in 1984.

Also included in the governor’s budget was money to reduce class sizes in kindergarten through 12th grade in the state’s public schools.

However, Marie Otto, superintendent of the Huntington Beach Union High School District, said she thought Deukmejian’s call for reduced teacher-pupil ratios in elementary schools should be rethought.

Time Needed for Analysis

“I don’t think class-size reductions are as crucial at that level,” she said, explaining that high school teachers have more work in terms of papers to grade, homework and exams.

County school officials said they would need time to thoroughly analyze the budget.

Orange County officials applauded proposals in the governor’s budget for:

- An allocation of $2.6 million for construction at Chino Hills State Park in north Orange County.

- Having the state take over the costs of running trial courts in exchange for giving up revenue from some court fees and fines. The county has sought similar action in previous years.

The governor’s budget also included a proposal to repeal some laws mandating state reimbursements to local agencies.

An example, state officials said, is the law requiring the state to reimburse local agencies for helping stranded motorists.

No figures were immediately available on how much money Orange County would lose if such laws were repealed, but Nestande warned that it is difficult to stop a program once the public is conditioned to having it.

“In some cases, this would merely transfer the total cost to local government,” Nestande said.

Block Grants Sought

Karen Coker, a county lobbyist in Sacramento, said she fears that proposals in the budget to shift some program responsibilities to the counties will hurt Orange County’s bid to catch up with funding that has been higher in other counties for certain programs, such as mental health.

Some of the governor’s proposals call for giving counties block grants with which they can set their own health-care priorities. But county officials said that makes the funds more susceptible to political manipulation, since they would no longer be earmarked for specific services.

Although the governor’s budget includes increased funding for prisons and county jail construction, Orange County is legally prohibited from using state jail bond construction funds for its proposed new jail near Anaheim Stadium.

That is because of legislation approved last year in an attempt to shift the proposed jail to a different site. The legislation was introduced by representatives of areas near the Anaheim site.

If not for that legislation, the county would have been entitled to about $18 million in jail funds, state and county officials said Thursday. County officials said they hope to use that money instead for remodeling the James A. Musick Honor Farm near El Toro.

Times staff writers Bill Billiter and Andy Rose contributed to this story.

No-growth state budget calls for health, education cuts. Part I, Page 1.