(October 2, 2000) Governor Gray Davis has vetoed a bill by LB Assemblymember Alan Lowenthal (AB 2330) that would have made a program of marine science grants available to "nonprofit aquariums, ocean institutes, and other marine science education programs."
The grants would have been available to qualifying aquariums statewide, presumably allowing LB's "Aquarium of the Pacific" (and others) to apply for and possibly receive such grants paid for by state taxpayers.
The Governor's veto was revealed on the Governor's web site and confirmed by a staffer in Lowenthal's LB office.
Earlier this year, Assemblyman Lowenthal tried to include $1.4 million in state taxpayer support for the LB Aquarium within a state bond measure. Governor Davis did not agree to this (and other requests for zoos and aquariums statewide, not just the LB Aquarium) but did allow $500,000 in state budgeted taxpayer support for the LB Aquarium this year.
The most recently filed LB Aquarium financial report, posted on LBReport.com in a separate article Aquarium report, indicated the LB Aquarium was not meeting certain of its budgeted fiscal targets.
Lowenthal's 1998 campaign materials for State Assembly recited that as a Councilmember, Lowenthal "led [the] effort and introduced [the] City Council motion to create the highly successful Long Beach 'Aquarium of the Pacific.'"