San Francisco Chronicle
By Bob Egelko
October 8, 2024

California can proceed with a long-planned project to demolish and replace the 72-year-old building that has offices for the governor and legislators alongside the Capitol in Sacramento, over the objections of some neighborhood groups, a state appeals court says.

A 2016 state law called for removal and rebuilding of the structure known as the Capitol Annex, which opened in 1952 as an addition to the century-plus-old Capitol. The new building is intended to be safer and more modern and would provide larger offices as well as a parking garage.

The initial budget was $700 million, but KCRA in Sacramento reported last month that the estimated cost is now $1.2 billion and that legislators and state officials have required more than 2,000 people since 2018 to sign nondisclosure agreements that forbid them from providing information about the project.

Initial plans for the new construction included an underground visitors’ center, on the west side of the Capitol. But officials in charge of the project have dropped plans for the visitors’ center. And after state courts ruled that California had failed to conduct an adequate review of the environmental impact of construction, the Legislature passed SB174, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this July, that exempted the entire project from review under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

One community group, Save Our Capitol, argued that the public was not given a meaningful opportunity to review SB174, which was announced, passed and signed into law within only 10 days. California law requires only that bills must be in print for 72 hours before lawmakers can vote on them. The group also said another state law entitles the public to advance notice, and a chance to comment, about any plans to change the Capitol.

But the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento said Monday that the Legislature had closed the door on any further environmental review of the project.

Under SB174, “that work is now expressly exempt from CEQA’s requirements,” Justice Stacy Boulware Eurie wrote in a 3-0 ruling upholding Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Steven Gevercer’s dismissal of the suit. Boulware Eurie was appointed to the court by Newsom, and Gevercer by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Lawyers for the neighborhood groups were not immediately available for comment. They could seek review in the state Supreme Court.