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: 

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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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