FACTS FROM SAC: $1.1 Billion and Counting — California’s Capitol Money Pit

SACRAMENTO – State officials promised the Capitol Annex Project would be a practical upgrade. Instead, it’s turned into a runaway spending scandal, all paid for by California taxpayers. 

The original price tag was $543 million. Now $1.1 billion. More than twice the cost of the Golden 1 Center.

And the spending only gets more outrageous:

• $5.2 million to import exotic Italian granite.
• Hidden hallways so lawmakers can avoid the press and the public.
• The public visitor center? Scrapped. The bloated budget? Untouched.
• Over 2,000 NDAs have been signed to keep taxpayers in the dark.
• No public update from the oversight committee since April 2021.

This isn’t just about spending. It’s about secrecy.

Assemblyman Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, put it plainly:

“I think this is the height of hypocrisy,” Hoover said. “You are using taxpayer dollars for a taxpayer-funded facility and yet you are going to design it in a way that shields you from the public and shields you from accountability.”

Meanwhile, everyday Californians are forced to follow strict environmental rules under CEQA. But the Capitol Annex Project was quietly given a special exemption by the state courts.

This isn’t governance. It’s a cover-up. Californians deserve answers and transparency, not secrecy.

We’re not backing down. This project is secret, shielded from oversight, and paid for by you. Taxpayers didn’t ask for this. Now they’re stuck with the bill, and they deserve to know why.

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