Nearly $35 million in earthquake safety projects and facility and equipment upgrades will be at stake for Sacramento Valley area universities and community colleges when California voters consider Proposition 1C this June 7. Proposition 1C, or the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act, would provide $900 million over two years to nearly all of the 136 campuses of the California Community Colleges, California State University and the University of California for their most urgent repair and renovation projects. "California's public higher education system is the world's largest and viewed as one of its finest," said Sen. Gary Hart, D-Santa Barbara, author of Proposition 1C. "To let this investment fall into disrepair would be short-sighted and self-destructive." If approved, Proposition 1C investment bonds would be paid off over 30 years at an annual cost of less than $2 per Californian. UC Davis is slated to receive $22.8 million; CSU-Sacramento, $1.9 million; and Los Rios Community College District, $10 million. The funds would be used for the following projects. University of California, Davis First-year projects: • $16.4 million for construction of an environmental design building, relocating programs from a building constructed in 1927 that is now rated seismically "poor"; • $1.6 million to correct seismic deficiencies in Veihmeyer Hall, Wyatt Theatre and three elevated water tanks. Proposed second-year projects: • $4.1 million to expand to south campus such basic utilities as chilled water, telecommunications, electricity and steam; • $751,000 for working drawings for an environmental services facility that would replace the current waste-handling facility. "These projects are critically important to the Davis campus and represent our most urgent repair and construction needs," said UC Davis Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef. "They will provide a seismically safer environment for our faculty, staff and students and permit us to more adequately support our teaching and research programs." California State University, Sacramento First-year projects: • $498,000 to renovate the student service center to accommodate new computer stations and a learning skills tutorial room; • $40,000 to improve campus energy efficiency. Proposed second-year projects: • $934,000 to further improve campus energy efficiency; • $425,000 to provide infrastructure for classroom telecommunications technology. "Proposition 1C will mean a great deal to our future students," said CSUS President Donald R. Gerth. "The projects it will fund are part of our careful planning to bring our students the kinds of facilities that they need while attending our university." Los Rios Community College District First-year projects: • $911,000 to equip the fine arts complex at Cosumnes River College; • $618,000 to remodel the animal health complex at Cosumnes River College and purchase equipment. Proposed second-year projects: • $5 million to purchase equipment and books for the Learning Resource Center at Sacramento City College; • $3.2 million for preliminary plans and working drawings for instructional facilities at Folsom Lake. "Hundreds of thousands of California students from all cultural and economic groups depend upon community colleges to open the door to higher education and better-paying jobs," said Queen F. Randall, chancellor of the Los Rios Community College District. "To continue to serve the growing educational needs of our state, we must be able to expand facilities and maintain adequate learning environments." Proposition 1C has been endorsed by Gov. Pete Wilson; the Legislature; the California Business-Higher Education Forum; L. Thomas Tobin, executive director of the California Seismic Safety Commission; Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computers; Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine; Patrick Nichelson, president of the California Faculty Association; and the boards of the University of California, California State University and the California Community Colleges. Opponents of the measure contend that government spending in the form of bond financing represents more cost to taxpayers than the resulting benefits justify. "Something worth having is worth paying for," states the ballot argument opposing the proposition. "If $900 million is truly needed at these schools, then the people who use the facilities should pay for them."