CDCR requests pilot funding to test air‑cooling in four prisons; LAO warns scaling will be costly

Dave Lewis, director of facility planning, construction and management for CDCR, told the subcommittee the department requested $23.6 million one‑time in 2025–26 and $45.4 million one‑time in 2026–27 to fund a pilot program to install and evaluate air‑cooling alternatives at four facilities: Central California Women’s Facility, California Medical Facility, Kern Valley State Prison and California State Prison Los Angeles.

Lewis said roughly 52% of CDCR housing units rely on evaporative cooling, 24% have some mechanical cooling, 19% have no cooling but use air handlers, and 5% rely solely on fans. He told members the department’s current indoor cooling standard for housing units is 89 degrees and noted that construction methods (non‑insulated concrete) contribute to heat gain and can leave units warm overnight. Lewis framed the pilot as an engineering and installation study to identify modality‑specific challenges (insulation, mechanical cooling, distribution of cooled air and electrical infrastructure) rather than a pure temperature‑measurement exercise.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office recommended the Legislature approve a pilot but also require two reports to support oversight and future scaling: (1) a near‑term report (recommended due Jan. 10, 2026) documenting inventory, short‑term mitigation steps, and infrastructure needs; and (2) a longer‑term evaluation and statewide scaling strategy after the pilot (recommended due Jan. 10, 2031). LAO flagged that the pilot would cover a very small share of overall housing units (CDCR said the pilot would affect fewer than 20 housing units out of roughly 1,500) and warned scaling statewide could be expensive, time‑consuming and require market capacity.

Department of Finance said it was open to discussing what reporting the Legislature might want but cautioned reporting requirements can be resource intensive. Members pressed CDCR on measurement methods, relocation impacts during construction, how success will be evaluated, and whether remediation versus replacement costs were being weighed; Lewis said success metrics focus on engineering and installability, delivery of cooled air into cells and system impacts (electrical load), and that insulation‑only remedies may improve temperatures but not guarantee a 78‑degree threshold the department cited as a goal for cooled spaces.

Ending

The subcommittee received the pilot proposal and LAO’s reporting recommendations. No action was taken at the hearing; members requested additional detail on measurement plans, short‑term mitigation steps, and a statewide strategy for scaling cooling interventions ahead of future budget deliberations.