BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 619|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 619
Author: Blumenfield (D)
Amended: 7/15/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM. : 8-0, 6/29/10
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe,
Pavley, Simitian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 8/2/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Ashburn, Corbett, Emmerson, Leno,
Price, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Wolk
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : High-speed rail procurement
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill establishes procedures for firms
desiring to contract with the High-Speed Rail Authority to
disclose any participation in the deportation of persons to
concentration camps, prisoner of war camps, work camps, or
extermination camps between January 1, 1942 and December
31, 1944.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
CONTINUED
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1.Requires state departments, unless specifically exempted,
to award contracts to the "lowest responsible bidder."
2.Authorizes state agencies to award contracts to the
lowest responsible bidder or on the basis of "best value"
to the state, provided the factors that will be used to
determine best value are included in the bid solicitation
documents.
3.Authorizes the California High-Speed Rail Authority
(HSRA) to enter into design-bid-build, design-build, or
design-build-operate contracts with private or public
entities for the design, construction and operation of
high-speed trains.
This bill:
1.Defines "entity" to mean any corporation, affiliate, or
other entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under
common control with, or that is a member of a partnership
or a consortium with an entity affected by this bill.
2.Requires all entities submitting bids with the HSRA for
services, or an engineering, construction, manufacturing,
or high-speed train operating contract are required to
affirmatively certify prior to submitting a formal bid
whether it had any direct involvement in the deportation
of any individuals to extermination camps, work camps,
concentration camps, prisoner of war camps, or any
similar camps between January 1, 1942 and December 31,
1944.
3.Requires entities responding in the affirmative shall
certify the following:
A. Whether it has any records (whenever created) in
its possession, custody, or control related to those
deportations.
B. Whether the entity has taken remedial action
concerning those deportations, including restitution
to all identifiable victims subject to deportation.
4.Permits an entity certifying direct involvement in
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deportations to provide the HSRA with any mitigating
circumstances in narrative and documentary form.
5.Requires the HSRA acknowledge the information provided by
this bill when awarding contracts, and requires the HSRA
in its procurement solicitation documents shall note the
importance of complying with the provisions of this bill.
Background
To be sure, the focus of this bill is the deportation of
persons to the various categories of camps in Europe. The
period covered by the bill begins with January 1, 1942, the
month in which the Nazi Regime decided at the Wannsee
Conference that Jews would be deported from their countries
of residence in Europe to concentration camps for
extermination. December 31, 1944 is when the deportation
of Jews was stopped. During this time of the Holocaust,
millions of Jews were transported by railroad to
extermination camps. All the national railroads in Europe
were involved in wartime activities, including transporting
people to concentration and other camps. The author has
focused attention on Soci?t? Nationale des Chemins de Fer
Fran?ais (SNCF), which was created as a state enterprise in
1938, when the French government nationalized five private
railroad companies. It has been documented that SNCF
transported 75,000 Jews from France east, to concentration
camps. Today, SNCF remains a state owned company.
Other railroads were also involved in the transportation of
Jews in Europe, most notably the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the
German national railroad. It was created in 1924 and was
placed under the control of the Nazi government in 1937.
During the period covered by this bill it is well
documented that it carried Jews to concentration and other
kinds of camps. Both SNCF and Deutsche Reichsbahn were paid
to carry persons to the camps.
In 1949, the Deutsche Bundesbahn, was created as the
successor to the Deutsche Reichsbahn and was owned by
German government until 1994. The successor to Deutsche
Bundesbahn is Deutsche Bahn AG, a private railroad
operating company.
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Although the discussion around this bill has focused on
Europe, the bill applies to all firms, including
participants in partnerships, consortium or other business
relationships, who may submit bids for contracts with the
HSRA. It, therefore, applies to the Asian-Pacific Theatre
of WW II. In Asia, the Japanese Government Railways
operated trains on the main islands of Japan between 1907
and 1949. This operation transported prisoners of war to
various kinds of camps in Japan. In addition, about 670,000
Koreans were brought to Japan against their will by the
government to work in factories and mines often under
appalling conditions. These individuals were moved about
Japan by rail. In 1949, the Japanese Government Railroad
was reorganized into a state owned public corporation
referred to as the Japanese National Railroad. In 1987,
the Japanese National Railroad was privatized and the
Japanese Rail Group was formed as its successor. Seven
for-profit firms were created during the privatization.
One of the companies, the JR Central operates Japan's
Shinkansen high-speed train service, the most heavily
patronized high-speed service in the world.
In regard to the United States, privately owned railroads
transported American citizens of Japanese ancestry as well
as Japanese who were legal residents in the country to
internment camps throughtout the West. The railroads also
transportated prisoners of war to incarceration facilities
in the country. In 1970, congress enacted legislation
creating a government corporation, the National Railroad
Passenger Corporation, which operates Amtrak services. The
enabling act permitted railroad corporations operating
passenger service to transfer their service to Amtrak and
to allow the company to operate over their lines. This
freed the companies from any legal obligations to provide
passenger services. Amtrak was allowed to terminate
services and decide how to organize the services it wanted
to provide. Amtrak is not a corporate successor in
interest of the corporations that previously provided
passenger rail services.
Foreign firms and the high-speed rail project . The
California high-speed rail project cannot be developed and
operated without the involvement of foreign firms, since no
U.S. firm can match the experience of foreign companies in
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developing and operating high-speed service. For example,
SNCF, which has indicated an interest in participating in
the project, operartes 1,100 miles of high-speed lines in
France. Representatives of Japanese business firms also
have shown an interest in participating in the the project.
The JR Central operates the most heavily traveled
high-speed service in the world, the Tokaido Shinkansen,
operating between Tokyo and Osaka, would likely be covered
by this bill. If Deutsche Bahn AG were interested in the
participating in the high-speed rail program it would
likely be affected by the provisions of this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12
2012-13 Fund
HSRA administration unknown costs,
potentially over $50 Bond*
*High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Fund
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/9/10)
30 Years After
Bet Tzedek The House of Justice
Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Second Generation
Soci?t? Nationale des Chemins de Fer Fran?ais
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
the purpose of this bill is to require companies seeking to
be awarded a high-speed rail contract to publicly disclose
their direct involvement, if any, in transporting persons
by trains to exterminations camps, work camps,
concentration camps, prisoner of war camps, or any similar
other camps. The firms are also required to disclose if
they have had made restitution to all identifiable victims
of deportation. The disclosures are seen by the author as
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a means to ensure that companies that profit from the
state's high-speed rail system take responsibility for
their involvement in the "horrific actions that forever
changed the lives of individuals and families, many of whom
are residents of California." This bill is not asking
firms for financial restitution, but only an
acknowledgement on the part of companies that were involved
in WW II of their participation in transporting people to
concentration or other types of camps. Moreover, the bill
leaves to the discretion of the HSRA whether it should take
action to disqualify a firm from bidding, if its disclosure
of events raises significant concerns.
JA:nl 8/9/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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