BILL NUMBER: AB 1889 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 15, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 1, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 21, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 17, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mullin
( Coauthors: Senators Beall
and Hill )
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.
This bill would provide for the purposes of a certain plan that a
corridor or usable segment thereof would be "suitable and ready for
high-speed train 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 and is consistent with
Proposition 1A.
(d) Also in 2012, using the Revised Business Plan as a guidepost,
the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 1029 of the
2011-12 Regular Session (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
of the 2013-14 Regular Session (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, as defined in SB 1029 of the 2011-12
Regular Session (Chapter 152 of the Statutes of 2012), which
will ultimately be used by high-speed rail trains, are consistent
with the intent of the Legislature in appropriating funding and
is consistent 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
the bond proceeds proceeds, as
appropriated pursuant to Senate Bill 1029 of the 2011-12 Regular
Session (Chapter 152 of the Statutes of 2012), 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.