BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 619| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 AB 619 Page 2 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 AB 619 Page 3 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. AB 619 Page 4 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 AB 619 Page 5 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 AB 619 Page 6 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 **** END ****