The California State Assembly stripped $10 million that had been earmarked for the future California Unity Center from an $11 billion state water bond proposal early Wednesday.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento had requested the money for the center to be built on 16th Street. He defended the provision Tuesday, but agreed to its being slashed from the water bond early Wednesday after its inclusion was stalling the bond from passing in the Assembly, confirmed Nathan Barankin, a Steinberg spokesman. Minutes later, the bond passed.

The session continued until nearly dawn. Later Wednesday, Steinberg told reporters he'd realized the $10-million earmark was threatening to derail the water bond.

"He said this morning that the inclusion of the money in the bond was just a mistake," Barankin said. "It was something that clearly became a distraction."

The bond was then sent back to the Senate for approval without the provision, which had authorized the California Department of Parks and Recreation to give the money to a Sacramento nonprofit that would teach Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) students about the watershed and other environmental issues, Barankin said.

Plans for a California Unity Center stem from a wave of hate crimes by two Redding-area brothers who firebombed three Sacramento-area synagogues and a women's health clinic, then murdered a gay couple in the summer of 1999.

Both devout Christians, 31-year-old Benjamin Matthew Williams and James Tyler Williams, 29, plead guilty to the bombings. The older brother committed suicide in jail. James Williams is serving a 50-year sentence.

The Capital Unity Council was formed in the wake of the violence. A three-story, 32,000-square-foot tolerance center has been proposed for 16th and N streets, which once housed the SCUSD headquarters.

Steinberg, who serves as the council's board president, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have been working with others in the community to raise funds for the $30-million project. To date, a little more than $11 million has been raised, but the recession has hurt fundraising, said Bob Harris, the council's executive director and the retired long-time president of Sacramento City College.

"We managed to skate through that (recession) at least good enough to still be here," he said last week. "What we're putting together is our effort to be building by next summer."

A design plan created by Studio Southwest Architects has been approved by the Division of the State Architect, which had jurisdiction because the facility is targeted for schoolchildren, he said. Most of the plan also has been approved by the city.

A warehouse once used for the school district headquarters was demolished about a year ago. The lease agreement originally called for the council to also use a Spanish-tile roof school that was one of the district's first, he added.

Plan drawings are being updated to reflect such changes as a projected 35-percent decrease in energy use. The building will seek gold-level LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The center will include interactive exhibits and displays that feature protests and other tools Californians have used to bring social change and stories about social justice heroes; an oral history alcove; a gallery that will take visitors through other people's real experiences with discrimination; community-building events that celebrate diverse cultural traditions and shared values and a three-story digital screen that honors each person who takes a unity and harmony pledge.

"The project is shovel-ready," Harris said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for the Sacramento Press.