California Legislature uses non-disclosure agreements to keep Capitol Annex Project information secret

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Legislature has been using non-disclosure agreements to keep most information secret about the planning and construction of a $1.2 billion taxpayer-funded building that will house the offices of state lawmakers, the governor and lieutenant governor.

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Following a three-month long investigation and a series of Legislative Open Records Act requests, KCRA 3 learned project leaders required more than 2,000 people to sign the NDAs, including several current and former state lawmakers, government officials, dozens of state employees and hundreds of other consultants, contractors, architects, construction and utility workers.

For the last six years, the NDAs have served as legally binding contracts, ordering those involved in the Capitol Annex project to keep confidential a broad range of information while threatening legal action against those who don’t. Various legal experts told KCRA 3 they were alarmed by the development noting taxpayers and voters are entitled to the information. While it is legal, some state lawmakers and experts said the use of NDAs like this should be banned.

With the information protected under NDAs, the estimated price tag of the project swelled from $440 million to $1.2 Billion.

It’s been three years since the Legislature provided an update on the project. The small group leading the effort, the Joint Rules Committee, has used environmental litigation as an excuse to keep taxpayers in the dark about the project overall.

The committee most recently refused to provide KCRA 3 bid information to prove that the millions it secretly spent on Italian stonework was the most affordable option for taxpayers. The stonework is just one small aspect of the project. How exactly project leaders are spending taxpayer money overall is mostly unknown.

Click here to read the full article at KCRA