The Covid 19 crisis has badly hurt California delivering a double whammy resulting in reduced revenues and massive spending to fight the virus.
It appears this wake-up call has resulted in a rare bipartisan vote regarding California’s High-Speed Rail project now nearly 12 years old. The vote 63 to zero essentially told the Rail Authority to stop their current plan since the Assembly wants to exercise oversight and wants more choices. The next budgeting cycle presents horrible choices for the legislators regarding cuts that must be made. Priorities must be decided.
The Assembly, very specifically, does not want to give the HSR Authority carte blanche to sign 30-year contracts for electrification, land and obligate the state for future spending.
See the 25-minute Assembly floor video discussion and approval of HR-97, on 6-11-2020. It can now be viewed on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/9rRdH6sKQs0
Here is the text of the bill: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200HR97
The Assembly has concerns spending the remaining bond funds which add up to more than $4 Billion in the Central Valley. The issues are there is no hope that it will ever connect to major population centers since they do not have the funding from private investors or the federal government which was mandatory in funding this project. The Assembly instead wants to review alternative plans that will impact transportation for bigger population centers. The Assembly wants alternatives from the Rail Authority and warned them not to go forward signing contracts or buying land that expands the Central Valley section and obligates the state to future costs.
Besides this, the Authority has not held up their agreements with all private citizens and businesses. They signed contracts, took land but in some cases the people have not received payment for more than 2 years. Listen to Jim Patterson (R) Fresno, talk about the project and explain the injustice of the Authority not paying people and businesses for their land. Go to https://youtu.be/9rRdH6sKQs0 and listen to what he has to say. (13:23 mm to 18.33 mm)
Here are two comments from Jim Frazier, (D) who chairs the Transportation committee. He opens 0 to 2:17mm. He ends with 18:38 to 20:27mm.
And finally here is a quote from the Assembly Speaker of the House, Anthony Rendon.(D) who ended the session at 22:2 mm to 23:56 mm. He warns the Authority to “slow down and consult with the Assembly and the people of California.”
And yet the Assembly vote and commentary appears to have fallen on deaf ears. The Rail Authority appears to be marching on with their agenda at the June 25th board meeting. On the agenda, the management is asking the board to approve their draft business plan: https://www.hsr.ca.gov/docs/brdmeetings/2020/brdmtg_062520_Board_Meeting_Agenda_Amended.pdf
Some have speculated that Governor Newsom may not have the influence on the State Legislature that Jerry Brown did but perhaps he does. Oddly, the Governor’s hand picked choice for Chairman of the High-Speed Rail Authority, Lenny Mendonca quit suddenly without public explanation mid-April. Perhaps Newsom was very aware of the future Assembly vote which could provide him cover from the unions who are in favor of the rail project.
NOTE 6/23/2020: After the publication of this article, the Rail Authority amended their agenda, removing the agenda item for the approval of the business plan.
