BILL NUMBER: AB 1889 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 1, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 21, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 17, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mullin
FEBRUARY 11, 2016
An act to add Section 2704.78 to the Streets and Highways Code,
relating to transportation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1889, as amended, Mullin. High-Speed Rail Authority: high-speed
train operation.
Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority with specified
powers and duties relative to the development and implementation of
a high-speed train system. Existing law, pursuant to the Safe,
Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century,
approved by the voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008,
statewide general election, provides for the issuance of $9.95
billion for high-speed train capital projects and other associated
purposes. The bond act requires the authority to expend the proceeds
of the bond act pursuant to certain planning and reporting
requirements, which require the authority to approve that the
corridor or usable segment would be suitable and ready for high-speed
train operations.
The Budget Act of 2012 made appropriations for the support of
state government, including an appropriation for, among other things,
state operations, local assistance, or capital outlay for high-speed
rail projects, as specified.
This bill would provide for the purposes of that
appropriation that the approval by the authority a
certain plan that a corridor or usable segment thereof would be
suitable "suitable and ready for
high-speed train operation is conclusive.
operation" if specified conditions are met.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) In passing AB 3034 (Chapter 267 of
the Statutes of 2008), the Legislature placed before the voters the
Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st
Century (Proposition 1A), which was approved and provides $9 billion
to initiate the construction of a high-speed train system connecting
the San Francisco Transbay Terminal to Los Angeles Union Station and
Anaheim and linking California's major population centers.
(b) Additionally, Proposition 1A included $950 million for
intercity, commuter, and urban rail systems that will ultimately
provide connectivity to the high-speed train system.
(c) In 2012, the High-Speed Rail Authority released the Revised
2012 Business Plan, which called for near-term investments in
northern and southern California, known as the "Bookends," which
would enable high-speed trains to share infrastructure with existing
passenger rail service providers as part of a blended system, as
envisioned in Proposition 1A.
(d) Also in 2012, using the Revised Business Plan as a guidepost,
the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 1029 (Chapter 152
of the Statutes of 2012), appropriating over $7.5 billion in state
and federal funding to begin construction of the project in the
central valley and in the Bookends, and for local connectivity
projects throughout the state.
(e) Of the amount appropriated, the Legislature dedicated $1.1
billion to passenger rail projects on the system's Bookends that will
ultimately be part of the blended system utilizing shared
infrastructure.
(f) In 2013, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 557
(Chapter 216 of the Statutes of 2013), which reaffirmed the
Legislature's commitment to investments in the Bookends.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature, in appropriating funding
for initial investments, that these projects should proceed to
construction in the near-term to provide economic benefits, create
jobs, and advance improved, safer, and cleaner rail transportation
and that these initial investments are consistent with and further
the goals of Proposition 1A.
(h) Consistent with Proposition 1A, these early investments will
enable passenger train service providers to begin using the
improvements on a corridor or useable segment thereof while
additional work is completed to enable high-speed train service.
(i) Furthermore, it is the intent of the Legislature that nothing
in this act relieves the High-Speed Rail Authority from its duties
under Proposition 1A, including the submission to the Director of
Finance of the plan required pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section
2704.08 of the Streets and Highways Code.
(j) As established in Proposition 1A, the required plan shall be
informed by the work of one or more independent financial services
firms, financial consulting firms, or other consultants, pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 2704.08 of the Streets
and Highways Code.
(k) This act clarifies that early investments in the Bookends and
elsewhere along the system, which will ultimately be used by
high-speed rail trains, are consistent with the intent of the
Legislature in appropriating funding and with the will of the voters
in approving Proposition 1A.
SEC. 2. Section 2704.78 is added to the
Streets and Highways Code , to read:
2704.78. For purposes of the funding plan required pursuant to
subdivision (d) of Section 2704.08, a corridor or usable segment
thereof is "suitable and ready for high-speed train operation" if
bond proceeds are to be used for a capital cost for a project that
would enable high-speed trains to operate immediately or after
additional planned investments are made on the corridor or useable
segment thereof and passenger train service providers will benefit
from the project in the near-term.
SECTION 1. Section 2704.78 is added to the
Streets and Highways Code, to read:
2704.78. (a) For the purposes of expenditure or liquidation of
the appropriation made by Item 2665-104-6043 of Section 2.00 of the
Budget Act of 2012, as added by Section 3 of Chapter 152 of the
Statutes of 2012, the approval made by the High-Speed Rail Authority
pursuant to Section 2704.08 that a corridor or usable segment thereof
would be suitable and ready for high-speed train operation, within
the meaning Section 2704.08, shall be conclusive.
(b) This section does not relieve the High-Speed Rail Authority of
its duties under Section 2704.08, including the report required by
subdivision (d) of that section.