BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 783
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          Date of Hearing:   July 15, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                    SB 783 (Ashburn) - As Amended:  July 2, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                               
          TransportationVote:12-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Modifies the contents of the High Speed Rail Authority's  
            (HSRA's) business plan and requires a revised business plan to  
            be adopted by the authority and submitted to the Legislature  
            by January 1, 2012 and biennially thereafter.

          2)Requires the business plan, in addition to the contents  
            proscribed in current law, to also identify anticipated  
            maintenance costs, discuss risks associated with right of way  
            acquisition and environmental clearances, forecast high,  
            medium and low levels of patronage for the Phase 1 corridor,  
            identify the environmental review completion date and  
            construction commencement and completion dates for each  
            segment of Phase 1, identify non-bond act funding available,  
            and identify alternative public-private development strategies  
            for Phase 1.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor additional bond-funded costs, likely less than $100,000 in  
          2011 and biennially thereafter, to complete the modified  
          business plan.  (In June, the budget conference committee  
          adopted budget bill language requiring HSRA to submit a business  
          plan with similar content to the Joint Legislative Budget  
          Committee by December 15, 2009.)

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  .  Pursuant to current law, the HSRA submitted a  








                                                                  SB 783
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            business plan to the Legislature in November 2008.  In its  
            review of the HSRA's budget request for 2009-10, the  
            Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) indicated that the  
            authority's business plan lacked sufficient detail.  The  
            author's office states that this bill implements the LAO  
            recommendations with respect to additional information that  
            should be available for the Legislature to assess.  As  
            mentioned above, language in pending legislation amending the  
            2009-10 Budget Act requires an updated business plan to be  
            submitted at the end of this year.  This bill places in  
            statute the requirement for updated business plans in  
            subsequent years.  

           2)Related Legislation  .  SB 455 (Lowenthal), also on today's  
            committee agenda, among other provisions, requires the  
            development of an overall project schedule and the submittal  
            of quarterly status reports to the Legislature and the LAO.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081