Article 3. Higher Education Facilities Program of California Education Code >> Division 14. >> Title 3. >> Part 66. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 3.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
  (a) California's economic and social prosperity relies on a higher education system that keeps pace with California's growth. In the coming decades, the state's economic prosperity will depend on increasing the productivity of the work force and on the ability to compete successfully in the world marketplace.
  (b) The system of public higher education in this state includes the University of California, comprising nine campuses, the California State University, comprising 22 campuses, including the California Maritime Academy, a specialized institution, the California Community Colleges, consisting of 71 districts and 107 campuses, the Hastings College of the Law, and their respective off-campus centers. Each of these institutions plays a vital role in maintaining California's dominance in higher education in the United States.
  (c) Over the last several years, studies have been completed by the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges to assess their long-term and short-term capital needs. Those studies demonstrate that the long-term and short-term needs total, in the aggregate, several billion dollars.
  (d) The purpose of this article is to assist in meeting the capital outlay financing needs of California's public higher education system.

Nine hundred seventy-five million dollars ($975,000,000) of the proceeds of bonds issued and sold pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited in the 1996 Higher Education Capital Outlay Bond Fund, which is hereby created.

The Higher Education Facilities Finance Committee created pursuant to Section 67353 shall be and is hereby authorized to create a debt or debts, liability or liabilities, of the State of California pursuant to this chapter for the purpose of funding aid to the University of California, the California State University, the California Community Colleges, and the Hastings College of the Law for the construction, including the construction of buildings and the acquisition of related fixtures; the equipping of new, renovated, or reconstructed facilities; funding for the payment of preconstruction costs, including, but not limited to, preliminary plans and working drawings; renovation and reconstruction of facilities; and the construction or improvement of off-campus facilities of the California State University approved by the Trustees of the California State University on or before July 1, 1990, including the acquisition of sites upon which these facilities are to be constructed. The addition of the Hastings College of the Law to this section is not intended to mark a change from the funding authorizations made by Section 67354, as contained in the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act of 1986, or Section 67334, as contained in the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act of 1988, but is intended to state more clearly what was intended by the Legislature in those sections as well.

The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges shall consider the historic significance of community college district buildings that are 50 years of age or older if those buildings are to be renovated, reconstructed, or demolished in connection with the construction of buildings utilizing the funds provided by this chapter.