Two bills taking aim at the state’s high speed rail plan were shot down Monday on a straight party-line vote in the Assembly Transportation Committee.
Assembly Bill 6 and AB 1138 both sought to derail the state’s high-speed rail plans. AB 6, introduced by Assemblyman Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, sought to defund the plan by preventing the sale of bonds to pay for it, instead using the money for school. AB 1138 would have limited the High Speed Rail Authority’s ability to use eminent domain in order to acquire land for the rail.
Wilk’s goal in introducing the bill was to spur the conversation, he said in an earlier interview. He sounded unsurprised Tuesday after both bills were killed in two separate 10-5 votes, all Democrats on the committee voting “no” and Republicans voting “yes.”
“My point in raising the issue is that AB 6 gave me a platform to go statewide to talk about the failures of the high speed rail project,” Wilk said. “The arguments that were made against (AB 6) were disingenuous.”
Wilk questioned the logic of whether the project was “too expensive to stop now,” arguing that was a poor reason to keep funding “the largest public works infrastructure project in the history of mankind.”
A message from the Santa Clarita city government.
The bills were just the latest of nine attempts by Republican lawmakers to derail what opponents have called a “multibillion-dollar boondoggle,” which also garnered staunch opposition from most elected officials in the Santa Clarita Valley.
The state has authorized roughly $10 billion in bond sales expected to go toward the high speed rail plan.
Dozens came to the hearing to oppose Wilk’s bill, as well as other attempts to derail the HSRA.
In a legislative staff report, the following concerns about Wilk’s bill were noted:
“While there is no doubt that the state has a need for additional funds to improve existing and build new school facilities, it is not clear why those funds need to come at the expense of the high-speed rail project. California needs both high-quality educational facilities and a high-quality, modern transportation system. While the funding hurdles facing high-speed rail are daunting, the project is proceeding and its unsteady beginning is not without precedent among mega-projects. The project may not be progressing as smoothly as hoped, but it is progressing and is better off today than it was three years ago when the Legislature committed to the project. Stopping the project now by redirecting the bonds will cause hundreds of millions of dollars of work and study to be wasted. Instead, the Legislature should redouble its resolve to the project and thereby improve the likelihood of its success in luring federal and private investors.”
Wilk has repeatedly argued the $8 billion left in commitments to high speed rail should be used toward school construction bonds.
He pointed to the fact that there are more than 116 school bonds statewide passed by local voters that are awaiting state matching funds from an account — which has most of its school construction funding earmarked for earthquake retrofitting.
AB 6 bill was the latest in a string of bills aimed at reducing the amount of authorized indebtedness for high-speed rail. Other similar bills have included:
1) AB 2650 (Conway) of 2014, which failed passage in this committee;
2) AB 1501 (Patterson) of 2014, which failed passage in this committee;
3) SB 901 (Vidak) of 2014, which failed passage in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee;
4) AB 842 (Donnelly) of 2013, which failed passage in this committee;
5) AB 1455 (Harkey) of 2012, which failed passage in this committee;
6) SB 22 (LaMalfa) of 2012, which failed passage in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee;
7) AB 76 (Harkey) of 2011, which failed passage in this committee; and
8) AB 2121 (Harkey) of 2010, which died in the Senate Rules Committee.
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26 Comments
Scott, at least you’re trying when no one else will.
This fight may just be getting started . . .
10 billion dollars for a train when there’s a thing called planes. 10 billion dollars would probably be better used towards desalination projects, but then again, what do i know what is a priority, I’m not a politician
Current prediction is actually about 70-100 billion
Let’s fund desalination plants – not this weird train,
Monorails are for Disneyland.
Wow their hell bent on pissing our money away, we need water not stupid crazy trains to now where!
CA high speed rail debacle. Another reason I’ll be leaving Cali in a couple of years. Just another feel-good wasteful project for politicians. Why CA voters said yes on the ballot baffles me. Everyone must have been smoking medical marijuana at the time.
CA high speed rail debacle. Another reason I’ll be leaving Cali in a couple of years. Just another feel-good wasteful project for politicians. Why CA voters said yes on the ballot baffles me. Everyone must have been smoking medical marijuana at the time.
Don’t know the details here so forgive me. But if the voters spoke, they spoke.
Idiots. Got i wish i could leave this lame ass state.
I’ll board that train, can’t wait for it!
Everyone has got to vote to try to stop crap like this. People who are supportive of this project are obviously extremely selfish. No water and you think this is a good idea? When did things like this becomes the government’s job anyways this should be funded by private funds not tax dollars
Who said rain won’t come. We’ve had droughts before. So easily forgotten. How about the politicians getting all our tax money for water and then the drought ends. What a waste that will be.
Dems don’t want to embarrass Jerry Brown. I guess that’s more important than things like bringing water to CA.
I would prefer a train. I am tired of getting felt up each time I fly. I don’t want to be fn’ full body x-rayed either with my hands in the air. I am 52 and would like to feel respect in traveling again. Because of my prosthetic I will forever be grouped. This train would be used by me and others who feel the same.
I would prefer a train. I am tired of getting felt up each time I fly. I don’t want to be fn’ full body x-rayed either with my hands in the air. I am 52 and would like to feel respect in traveling again. Because of my prosthetic I will forever be grouped. This train would be used by me and others who feel the same.
High Speed Rail is just one more on the stack of lies sold to California voters by this Leftist Legislature. Voters stupidly passed (not with my help) the feel-good-go-nowhere measure. In fact those same voters have been vocal about regretting their ‘yes’ vote. HSR B-U-T, voters were told it would cost $33 Billion. Within a matter of days there were publishing that it was up to $99 Billion–TRIPLE. the heat in the kitchen go too hot and suddenly the $68 Billion was the cost. No!–voters did not pass HSR costing $68 Billion. It was a lie; the litigation(s) will be endless and Jerry Brown will still be fighting to be some form of a politician at the age of 96 and will NEVER live to ride his train. The Bullet train needs a bullet!
Didn’t a bunch of local politicians test ride a French (?) train about 10 years ago that smoothly went 70 MPH through Soledad Canyon between Vincent Hill and the SCV?
We are being left behind.
We are being left behind.
We voted YES for high speed rail, last time I checked.
We voted YES for high speed rail, last time I checked.
Clancy Maihori your right popular sovereignty is an outrage!
Wish the article at least mentioned all the communities that the route will devastate, dislodge, and cause people to move away. And what about recouping the cost of the thing?
Though there are valid arguments against it, I visited several Fresno businesses today that are benefitting greatly from the project. It is also helping the local economy via jobs, commerce, etc. You may now fling flaming arrows at me though I am impervious to them.
Average tuition at a private college is around $33,000 per year. Figuring a four-year education with extras such as living expenses will total to about $250,000, the $100 billion spent for the bullet train is enough to fund college education for 400,000 students. What do we need more, the bullet train or a highly educated population? Given that you can almost always catch a LA to SF jet that’ll get you there just as fast, the answer is obvious. See ya’ Monday!