Projects costing less than $400,000 can be financed out of Corrections' discretionary funds; legislators do not need to be notified of such projects.

"We are not making an assertion at this point that there was any violation of state rules," Carson said.

California has undergone extensive litigation over the adequacy of its death policy this year.

In December, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled San Quentin's 69-year-old chamber was cramped and had inadequate lighting. ...In addition to the space concerns, Fogel determined there were four other problems with the state's execution process: inconsistent and unreliable screening of execution team members; a lack of meaningful training and oversight of the execution team; inconsistent and unreliable record keeping; and improper mixing, preparation and administration of sodium thiopental, a barbiturate sedative.

As one defense attorney put it,

David Senior, one of Morales' attorneys, said a lack of communication on the chamber's construction is an example of a "lack of transparency" on the part of Corrections and the governor.

"It seems to me the press and the public should be entitled to know what's going on," Senior said. "But the fact that the state of California has decided to proceed with this cloak and secrecy in everything they do reinforces what the evidence to date has shown: that there is a lack of confidence on their end that they know what they're doing, that they have qualified people, knowledgeable people, and that they have proper facilities."

Update: More news on this here.