California Governor Jerry Brown wants to move forward with building a statewide high-speed rail system seen costing nearly $100 billion, but lawmakers are nervous about approving bonds needed to lock in federal funds to get the project under way.
They are gagging at the rail system's projected cost, which towers above its previous estimate of $43 billion, and are anxious about the uncertain outlook for federal and private-sector dollars needed to lay hundreds of miles of train tracks between California's far-flung metropolitan areas.
Like many in the Legislature, Democratic Assemblyman Jared Huffman supports the concept of high-speed rail. But he has sticker shock: "Anybody who is paying attention has to be very sobered by the numbers." Lawmakers are also concerned about the California High-Speed Rail Authority's oversight of the project. Its chief executive resigned on Thursday and the chairman of its board also stepped down, though he will remain on the board. Dan Richard, a board member appointed by Brown, has been nominated as new chairman.
Additionally, lawmakers are acutely aware of buyer's remorse among many voters over the project with state finances still under pressure. California faces a $9.2 billion budget gap.
Voters approved nearly $10 billion of general obligation debt in 2008 to help build the rail system. Now nearly two-thirds of them want lawmakers to put the bond package back on the ballot, and if given another vote on it, 59 percent would reject it, according to Field Poll findings released last month. "The matter is somewhat different now than it was when it was billed to them," said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo.
A recent peer review group's report ratcheted up anxiety among lawmakers by recommending they not approve $2.7 billion of bonds for the rail system. Proceeds would open the door to more than $3 billion in federal funds for the project's first phase. The report said starting the project "without credible sources of adequate funding, without a definitive business model, without a strategy to maximise the independent utility and value to the State ... represents an immense financial risk on the part of the State."
The California High-Speed Rail Authority panned the report, saying that "by and large, this report is deeply flawed, in some areas misleading, and its conclusions are unfounded." But even lawmakers who would like to see high-speed trains whizzing across the state say the report needs to be taken seriously - adding the Legislature must make tough decisions over the next few months about the rail project's future.
Comments
Comments are closed.