U.S. Courthouse Bill Advances

A House subcommittee on Thursday helped pave the way for construction of a new federal courthouse and office building in Orange County, although a site for the structure has not been determined yet.

The House subcommittee on public buildings and grounds authorized the legislation to build the proposed judicial facility, which will cost upward of $80 million and have 218,000 square feet. The bill will be sent to the full House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds for consideration.

“It was important to us that we had authorization of the legislation by this spring,” said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach). “The site is still up in the air because we didn’t want the lengthy (selection process) to slow us down.”

Cox said the committee is very likely to approve the bill and send it on to the House for a vote.

Orange County is part of the federal judicial system’s Central District of California based in Los Angeles. The new legislation will give Orange County, which has 2.4 million residents, its own full-scale federal courthouse.

A temporary federal courthouse was built at Flower Street and Santa Ana Boulevard in Santa Ana several years ago, but with two judges and limited courtroom space, many cases must still be handled in Los Angeles.

Cox engineered a resolution two years ago through the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation that asked the General Services Administration to study possible locations for the Orange County facility.

The GSA eventually recommended a 92-acre tract in Laguna Niguel, but the recommendation is tentative. Sites in Irvine and Santa Ana also are being considered.

Cox said the new federal courthouse will drive down legal expenses for Orange County residents and reduce the number of cases clogging the judicial system. Estimated costs for construction of the facility, which might begin late this year, are between $77.5 million and $79.8 million.

The House subcommittee on government activities and transportation, where Cox is the ranking Republican member, will decide on a site after public hearings this summer.