BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 842
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Date of Hearing: April 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 842 (Donnelly) - As Introduced: February 21, 2013
SUBJECT : High-speed rail: funding
SUMMARY : Prohibits the expenditure of state and federal funds
for high-speed rail in California. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes findings and declarations that spending state and
federal funds on highway and bridge improvements and repair
projects should take priority over spending those funds on
California's high-speed rail project.
2)Prohibits state agencies, including the High Speed Rail
Authority (Authority), from spending state and federal funds
on the construction of California's high-speed rail project
except as necessary to meet contractual commitments entered
into before January 1, 2014.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes and provides the Authority with the responsibility
to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in
California.
2)Authorizes the sale of $9 billion in general obligation bonds
to partially fund the development and construction of
California's high-speed rail system.
3)Authorizes the expenditure of an additional $950 million in
general obligation bonds for capital projects on other
passenger rail lines to provide connectivity to the high-speed
rail system as well as for capacity enhancements and safety
improvements to those lines.
4)Authorizes the Legislature to establish conditions and
criteria on the use of high-speed rail bond funds appropriated
for planning and capital costs.
5)Requires the Authority to complete and submit to the
Legislature funding plans and financial analyses prior to
requesting an appropriation of bond funds for eligible capital
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costs and prior to committing bond proceeds for expenditure
for construction and real property and equipment acquisition.
6)Provides explicit authority for the Legislature to reduce the
amount of indebtedness authorized by a bond act to an amount
not less than the amount contracted at the time of the
reduction.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : In 2008, voters approved Proposition 1A, the Safe,
Reliable, High-speed Passenger Train Bond Act, a $9.95 billion
general obligation bond to fund the proposed California
high-speed rail project and related improvements. The state
subsequently received a total of $3.5 billion in federal grants
for planning, engineering, and constructing up to 130 miles of
dedicated and fully grade-separated high-speed rail line in the
Central Valley. Of this total amount, $2.6 billion was made
available in the 2009 federal American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (ARRA). ARRA, which was intended to provide economic
stimulus, required that $2.6 billion be spent prior to September
2017. In addition, $1.1 billion in unidentified funds and
in-kind resources from local governments have been secured for
the project. As part of California's 2012-13 budget, the
Legislature appropriated to the Authority $7.2 billion, which
included $3.9 billion of Proposition 1A bond funds and $3.3
billion of federal funds.
The Authority received final approval of the environmental
documentation for the segment between Merced and Fresno in
September 2012, and is about to begin right-of-way (ROW)
acquisition for the segment between Fresno and Madera. The
Authority expects to receive final environmental document
approval for the Fresno to Bakersfield segment in the fall of
2013 and subsequently they will begin obtaining needed ROW for
that segment.
By introducing this bill, the author intends to highlight his
belief that money being spent on high-speed rail should instead
go to fund other important infrastructure projects. To
highlight this point, the author makes reference to the
California Transportation Commission's recently released report
predicting that basic infrastructure maintenance in California
will fall 60% below what is needed over the next ten years.
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The author also contends that with estimated costs of the
high-speed rail project ballooning far beyond the original cost
estimates, the project has become a massive waste of taxpayer
money and is coming at a time when California cannot afford to
fund its current infrastructure needs let alone a non-essential
high-speed rail is project. It is the author's contention that
continuing to fund high speed rail beyond contractual
commitments entered into before January 1, 2014, would be
irresponsible and should not be considered.
Related legislation : AB 1455 (Harkey) of 2012, would have
reduced the amount of authorized indebtedness for the Authority
to the amount contracted as of January 1, 2013; excluded from
these provisions indebtedness authorized for other rail
purposes. That bill failed passage in the Assembly
Transportation Committee.
SB 22 (LaMalfa) of 2012, would have reduced the amount of
indebtedness authorized by Proposition 1A to the amount
contracted as of January 1, 2012. That bill failed passage in
the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee.
AB 76 (Harkey) of 2011, would have reduced the amount of
authorized indebtedness for the Authority to the amount
contracted as of January 1, 2012. That bill failed passage in
the Assembly Transportation Committee.
AB 2121 (Harkey) of 2010, would have reduced the amount of
general obligation debt authorized pursuant to Proposition 1A to
the amount contracted by the Authority. That bill was amended
in the Assembly Transportation Committee to require the
Authority to annually submit a six-year funding program and a
project progress report to the appropriate policy and bridge
committees of the Legislature. AB 2121 died in the Senate Rules
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
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Association for California High Speed Trans (ACHST)
Teamsters
Analysis Prepared by : Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-
2093