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When the fate of Proposition 55 is decided in the March 2 election, the voters’ decision will have immediate and far-reaching effects at UCLA.

Proposition 55 would provide a bond of $12.3 billion to fund the repair and maintenance of California schools. Of that sum, approximately $70 million would be allotted to UCLA.

Though the measure has yet to pass, the University of California Board of Regents has already made preliminary plans for the projects to be financed by the bond.

In a Feb. 27 e-mail to the UCLA community, Michael Eicher, vice chancellor of external affairs, outlined the impact of Proposition 55.

A majority of the money would go toward seismic corrections of the Geology Building, Campbell Hall, the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and the Center for Health Services at UCLA.

These facilities, characterized by outdated infrastructures that leave them vulnerable to earthquakes, could pose a safety risk if they are not seismically reinforced.

Steve Olsen, UCLA vice chancellor of budget and finance, described the seismic modifications to be funded by the bond as “essential.”

In addition to these corrections, a portion of the $70 million would finance the replacement of the current Life Sciences Building.

“This building is obsolete,” Olsen said, adding that the risks posed by such an aged infrastructure could prove dangerous if uncorrected.

But perhaps the most important – and time sensitive – project to be funded by the bond is the renovation of the medical school laboratories.

When the section of UCLA Medical Center currently under construction reopens in 2005, safety laws obligate UCLA to either renovate or demolish the laboratories.

Without money from the bond, the university will likely be forced to tear down the laboratories. The costs of such demolition, both in funds and lost university facilities, would be a huge loss for UCLA.

The passage of Proposition 55 is far from certain. The defeat of the measure – it was only up by eight percentage points in a recent Los Angeles Times poll – is a frightening prospect for university officials.

Without the money provided by the bond, many planned projects will have to be deferred, Olsen said.

Such a development would have dramatic effects on the UCLA community.

Opponents of Proposition 55 argue that the financial burden imposed by the bond makes it detrimental to California’s economy.

The state would need to pay $823 million per year for the next 30 years to pay off the bond. With an estimated budget deficit of over $10 billion for the coming year, any addition expenses would only further constrain and limit the state’s economy, opponents say.

Disregarding financial arguments, Josh Brooks, a sixth-year geography student, had a simpler, but no less adamant, thought on Proposition 55.

“We don’t want kids in school and buildings collapsing on them,” he said. “That would be horrible.”

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