BILL ANALYSIS
AB 619
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 619 (Blumenfield)
As Amended July 15, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(May 14, 2009) |SENATE: |32-1 |(August 12, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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(vote not relevant)
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|COMMITTEE VOTE: |8-2 |(August 23, 2010) |RECOMMENDATION: |Concurr |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
SUMMARY : Requires any entity that intends to contract with the
California High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) to disclose any direct
involvement in the deportation of individuals to extermination
camps, work camps, concentration camps, prisoner of war camps, or
any similar camps, from 1942 through 1944. Would require HSRA to
note the importance of compliance with these requirements in its
procurement solicitation documents, and acknowledge disclosed
information when awarding contracts.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill, and
instead:
1)Make findings and declarations relative to the California
high-speed rail passenger proposed system.
2)Require any entity that intends to contract with HSRA to
affirmatively certify in advance of submitting a formal bid for
contracted work any direct involvement in the deportation of
individuals to extermination camps, work camps, concentration
camps, prisoner of war camps, or any similar camps, from 1942
through 1944.
3)Require entities responding in the affirmative to certify the
following:
a) Whether it has any records (whenever created) in its
possession, custody, or control related to those deportations;
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and,
b) Whether the entity has taken remedial action concerning
those deportations, including restitution to all identifiable
victims subject to deportation;
4)Allow an entity certifying direct involvement in deportations to
provide HSRA with any mitigating circumstances in narrative and
documentary form.
5)Require HSRA to acknowledge the information provided when
awarding contracts and to note the importance of complying with
the information requests in its procurement solicitation
documents.
6)Define "direct involvement" to mean ownership or operation of the
trains on which persons were deported to extermination camps,
work camps, concentration camps, prisoner of war camps, or any
similar camps during the period from January 1, 1942, through
December 31, 1944.
7)Define "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.
8)Require that any contract bids or proposals submitted to HSRA for
goods or services conform with state public contract procedures.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the HSRA and charges it with the planning, designing,
constructing, operating, and maintaining a state-of-the-art
high-speed train system for California.
2)Enacts the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for
the 21st Century (High-Speed Rail Bond Act). The High-Speed Rail
Bond Act, approved as Proposition 1A in November 2008, provides
$9.95 billion in general obligation bond authority to fund the
planning and construction of a high-speed passenger train system
and complementary improvements to other specified rail systems in
the state.
3)Authorizes, through enactment of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the recently enacted federal economic
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stimulus package), $8 billion for high-speed rail passenger
services throughout the nation.
4)Establishes contracting procedures for the procurement of goods
and services by public entities.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill required the California
Department of Transportation to notify the Legislature within 30
days of making a determination that a project will be delayed
beyond its scheduled completion date because of cash flow or other
funding issues if the delay places receipt of federal funds at
risk.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee,
unknown costs potentially over $50,000.
COMMENTS : This bill is intended to create a public record of the
involvement of entities contracting with HSRA in the deportation of
persons to specified camps during World War II. According to the
author, "although hundreds of companies are known to have profited
from activities supporting the Holocaust, most of them have
admitted their wrongdoing, and in the decades since, have made
reparations to victims and their families. Only a very few have
not done so, but chief among them is one company that is expected
to compete for California's high speed rail contract, SNCF. This
company has never admitted its actions, disclosed its records or
been held accountable to victims. By requiring companies seeking
to be awarded the high speed rail contract to publicly disclose
their involvement, AB 619 seeks to ensure that companies that
benefit from the high speed rail system take responsibility for
their involvement in the horrific actions related to deportations
to Nazi concentration camps."
Background: The author's 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 (French National
Railway Corporation - SNCF), which was created as a state
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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.
Although the discussion around AB 619 has focused on Europe, this
bill applies to all firms, including participants in partnerships,
consortium or other business relationships, who may submit bids for
contracts with 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 rail passenger 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 throughout the West. The railroads also transported
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
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corporations operating passenger service to transfer their service
to Amtrak and to allow Amtrak to operate over their private rail
freight lines. This freed the rail freight companies from any
legal obligations to provide rail passenger services. Amtrak was
allowed to terminate existing rail passenger 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 developing and operating
high-speed service. For example, SNCF, which has indicated an
interest in participating in the project, operates 1,100 miles of
high-speed lines in France. Representatives of Japanese business
firms also have shown an interest in participating in the project.
The JR Central operates the most heavily traveled high-speed
service in the world, the Tokaido Shinkansen, operating between
Tokyo and Osaka. If Deutsche Bahn AG, as well as SNCF and JR
Central, were interested in the participating in the high-speed
rail program, they would likely be affected by the provisions of AB
619.
According to internet sources, "preceding World War II Siemens was
involved in funding the rise of the Nazi Party and the secret
rearmament of Germany. During World War II, Siemens supported the
Hitler regime, contributed to the war effort and participated in
the "Nazification" of the economy. Siemens had many factories in
and around notorious concentration camps to build electric switches
for military uses. In one example, almost 100,000 men and women
from Auschwitz worked in a Siemens factory inside the camp,
supplying the electricity to the camp." Although not the focus of
the bill or subject to the bill's provisions, Siemens is likely to
be interested in manufacturing high-speed rail cars for California
as it has purchased additional area adjacent to it light-rail car
manufacturing facility in Sacramento County.
California's previous experience addressing Holocaust issues: AB
600 (Knox), Chapter 827, Statutes of 1999, enacted the Holocaust
Victim Insurance Relief Act of 1999, that required the State
Insurance Commissioner to establish and maintain a registry of
Holocaust victims to whom insurance policies were issued in Europe
between 1920 and 1945. In addition, AB 600 authorized Holocaust
victims who are residents of the state and to whom policies were
sold during that period, beneficiaries of the policies, or heirs of
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beneficiaries to bring legal action against such firms, if they
believe they are entitled to unpaid benefits. The United Statutes
Supreme Court held AB 600 to be unconstitutional, since it
infringed upon the power of the President to resolve foreign policy
issues, such as Holocaust-era claims. To be sure, AB 619 is not
seeking economic restitution, only acknowledgement of wrong doing,
but it is addressing a matter that may be viewed as within the
scope of presidential foreign policy making. Moreover, there is a
possibility that HSRA may require information that firms are not
obliged to disclose under terms of agreements to which the United
States is a signatory. This could engender legal action.
Support: Writing in support of this bill, the Los Angeles Museum
of the Holocaust indicates that "The governing board of the HSRA
will begin awarding contracts as early as next year to spearhead
the construction of the high-speed rail system. The construction
of the high-speed rail network will be paid for by state and
federal taxpayer dollars and bond sales. Due to this, we believe
that the residents of California have a direct interest in making
sure that companies that are awarded the contracts publicly
disclose their involvement in the deportations of California
residents and families of California residents prior to being
awarded any high-speed rail construction contract. Moreover, we
believe it's important to require companies seeking the contracts
to provide transparency and take responsibility for actions that
have so tragically affected the lives of many Californians and
thousands of others."
Opposition: Writing in opposition to this bill, the California
Chamber of Commerce indicates that "While amendments have been
taken to the bill, AB 619 still places the HSRA in the position of
having to take into consideration the role a company played in the
Holocaust. For example, a company was involved in the deportation
but doesn't want to acknowledge it or provide the information on
remedial actions because it hasn't taken any wants to bid for a
contract. Under this circumstance, will the HSRA merely
acknowledge this and seriously consider this company as a bidder?
Or would the HSRA cast that company's bid aside, even though they
are not required to but will face negative PR if that company
received the bid? Though the bill no longer requires the HSRA from
excluding such a company, the prospect that the authority would
face negative PR implies that the authority would do so even if the
company is qualified. It is our belief that this has protectionist
effects."
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
AB 619
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