Sacramento – Today, Assemblymember Roger Dickinson’s (D-Sacramento) Assembly Bill 1204 was approved by the Assembly Agriculture Committee on a vote of 7-0. The bill expands the authority of Cal Expo to run the California Exposition to allow it to address the multiple issues of declining attendance at the State Fair and horse racing, $45 million deferred maintenance, cumbersome governing structure and more.
“As other local facilities are built or modernized in our community, Cal Expo will likely continue to lose business if it is not updated, further hindering its ability to compete,” said Assemblymember Dickinson. “AB 1204 would allow the Cal Expo Board and the State Fair Leasing Authority to run the fairgrounds in a way that will preserve it for future generations, while maintaining strict oversight.”
Cal Expo, located in Sacramento, was built in 1968 as the home of the California State Fair and Exposition. At that time, state support helped the operation succeed but in the early 1990’s, state support ended and it now receives no general fund support and it is not under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Food and Agriculture, like other fairs.
Cal Expo continued to thrive until the early/mid 2000’s when the growing maintenance issues began to impact operations, and fewer attended the fair due to the state economy and a change in interests, thus horse racing events and other events at Cal Expo brought it less revenue. Today, horse racing realizes about 20% of the revenue it did just six years ago. Though attendance improved last year, there has been a significant downward spiral in fair attendance for several years.
AB 1204 would clearly define Cal Expo and its mission and allow the fair to operate as a business enterprise by eliminating statutory impediments that restrict growth and preclude the efficient administration of the business. The bill invests in the existing State Fair Leasing Authority the ability to make decisions regarding the sale or the long term lease of State Fair property. The proceeds of the sale or lease would go into a fund to allow Cal Expo to modernize the facility – all done without any general fund support and without putting the state’s taxpayers under any obligation or risk.
Contact: Taryn Kinney, (916) 319-2009
