Governor Urges Full Funding for CSUCI

Gov. Gray Davis is asking state lawmakers to set aside $13 million this year for the future Cal State Channel Islands campus, the full amount requested by university officials.

The majority of that--$10 million--would build the first phase of a science complex expected to be completed in time for the Camarillo school’s fall 2002 opening.

The money for its construction originated in a school bond measure passed by voters in 1998.

Another $3 million in the governor’s proposed state budget would bolster a fund for hiring faculty members and staff. The campus will be the first independent public four-year institution in Ventura County.

University President Handel Evans said Friday he was pleased with both allocations in the $104.7-billion spending plan Davis showcased this week. While the budget still must be approved by the Legislature, Evans said several key lawmakers support the funding requests.

The initial phase of the science complex will include a small auditorium and six to eight laboratories-- enough to teach basic sciences to the university’s first crop of students.

“One of the main academic tracks this university is going to provide to our students is access to the biotechnology industry,” Evans said. “This is just the beginning of establishing that foundation.”

Mary Pat Huxley, executive director of the local industry networking group VCBio, said the money is a good start but “equipping those labs will cost several million dollars more.”

CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said the governor’s plan reflects the full funding requested by the university and shows that Davis is committed to making the university a success.

The $3 million for hiring will replenish a $10-million fund created last year to cover start-up costs. Davis threatened last year to withhold the initial funding because of concerns over another Cal State program in Stockton. He ultimately agreed to the funding after university officials said they had resolved most of the concerns in Stockton.

The $10-million allocation for the science complex would come from Proposition 1A, a $9.2-billion bond issue approved by voters in 1998.

That ballot measure set aside $55 million for smaller CSU campuses. State Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo), a key backer of developing the Channel Islands campus, helped craft the measure so the school would receive a sizable chunk of money when it was distributed.

The university likely won’t get the money until the summer, officials said. Evans said he can’t wait that long to get design plans for the science complex underway. He plans to launch a private fund-raising effort before then to come up with the $650,000 needed for the work.

The Channel Islands campus is being developed at the site of the former Camarillo State Hospital, a facility for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled that was closed in 1997. Many of the hospital’s buildings are being renovated for conversion to campus facilities.

But that isn’t the case with the science complex, which will be the first totally new building on campus, Evans said.

All told, the science complex could cost $40 million to $50 million and take several years and millions of dollars in private donations to complete, Evans said. In years to come, the university plans to ask lawmakers for more money to develop the campus, including $10 million for library construction.