during the mid-1940s, the impetus for the creation of the ucla school of law emerged from outside of the ucla community. assemblyman william rosenthal of boyle heights (on the other side of los angeles from ucla) conceived of and fought for the creation of the first public law school in southern california as a convenient and affordable alternative to the expensive private law school at usc. rosenthal's first attempt in 1945 failed, but his second attempt was able to gain momentum when the state bar of california and the ucla alumni association announced their support for the bill. on july 18, 1947, governor earl warren authorized the appropriation of $1 million for the construction of a new law school at ucla by signing assembly bill 1361 into state law.