Money to expand UC Riverside’s medical school and add new judges is part of the new California budget approved Thursday, June 13, by lawmakers in Sacramento.
The $215 billion spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 authorizes expansion funding for the school, likely in the neighborhood of $80 million to $100 million once design work is done. Ongoing support for the bigger school will be determined later.
When Inland Empire Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes toured the terminal at the San Bernardino International Airport on a recent Friday, her focus wasn't on the former airbase's struggles to attract commercial carriers and return the area to the economic prosperity of decades past. Her focus was on the region's future, and for a moment, female high school students and lip balm.
The effort to bring a University of California law school to Riverside County is on hold for 2019 after an Inland Assemblywoman’s bill faltered in Sacramento.
Meanwhile, the state Senate on Wednesday passed legislation backed by several Inland lawmakers to fund an expansion of UC Riverside’s School of Medicine. Sponsored by state Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, SB 56 passed 38-0, and now moves to the Assembly. If funding gets final approval the goal would be to double the number of medical school graduates over a five-year period.