State Senate OKs Bill Needed in Push for CSU Campus

State lawmakers pushed creation of a Cal State university for Ventura County a step closer to reality Wednesday by endorsing a bill aimed at generating the cash needed to transform a shuttered mental hospital in Camarillo into a college campus.

On a vote of 26 to 1, the state Senate approved legislation designed to create a special authority dedicated to managing all financial aspects of the proposed campus.

The bill, written by Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo), now heads to the Assembly.

“It’s a big win for us,” O’Connell said. “It’s another significant step forward in the development of a public university in Ventura County.”

Together with local government agencies, Cal State University planners are proposing a special authority to serve as landlord for the local campus.

A cross between a redevelopment agency and the type of entity used to revive mothballed military bases, the seven-member authority would be responsible for raising revenues from property and sales taxes, selling bonds and providing tax incentives to lure private and public ventures to the 630-acre property.

The authority is not needed to launch the inaugural phase of the campus, as lawmakers already have earmarked $16.5 million to convert the shuttered Camarillo State Hospital into the new home of the Ventura campus of Cal State Northridge.

Rather, it is needed to generate the $25 million to $50 million necessary to expand the Northridge center into a full-fledged university, a 23rd campus in the CSU system to be called Cal State Channel Islands.

The proposed authority would be unique to state government and a potential model for future university development, officials say.

“We’re on our way to accomplishing what we’ve been talking about all along,” said Handel Evans, president of the developing Channel Islands campus. “This is unique. We’re pushing further than the envelope.”

The CSU governing board has made it clear that the Ventura County campus will grow only if it finds a way to generate the cash needed to make that happen. Toward that end, planners are hammering out plans to create a commercial hub and establish a range of other money-making ventures to help the college pay its own way.

That is where the authority plays its most vital role, serving as an economic engine to fuel development and pump out a steady stream of cash to support university projects.

Still, legislators have had to be sold on the financing plan.

During an April 1 hearing before the Senate’s local government committee, lawmakers tore into the plan, questioning the level of commercial development that would be needed to expand and support the campus.

In fact, the lone dissenter in Wednesday’s vote was Sen. Quentin Kopp (I--San Francisco), who blasted the bill early on as a dangerous way to go about building a college campus. He indicated last month that he would not support the legislation.

But university boosters have since been able to ease the concerns of other early critics, arguing the bill would ensure that county and city leaders play a joint role in creating the new campus.

Wednesday’s vote was preceded a day earlier by unanimous approval from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“We were on life support not too long ago, but now our bill is alive and well,” said O’Connell, whose district includes the western portion of Ventura County. “Our momentum continues and we are continuing to build on our successes.”