Bill Text: CA SB901 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: High-speed rail: funding.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 8-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-04-22 - Set, first hearing. Failed passage in committee. (Ayes 1. Noes 6. Page 3236.) Reconsideration granted. [SB901 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SB901-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 901 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 7, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Senator Vidak
( Coauthors: Senators Fuller
and Huff )
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Donnelly, Gorell, Harkey,
Jones, and Olsen )
JANUARY 16, 2014
An act to add Sections 2704.045 and 2704.096 to, and to add and
repeal Section 2704.78 of, the Streets and Highways Code, relating to
high-speed rail, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 901, as amended, Vidak. High-speed rail: funding.
(1) Article XVI of the California Constitution requires a general
obligation bond act to specify the single object or work to be funded
by the bonds, and further requires a bond act to be approved by a
2/3 vote of each house of the Legislature and by a majority of the
voters. Article XVI authorizes the Legislature, at any time after the
approval of a general obligation bond act by the voters, to reduce
the amount of the indebtedness authorized by the act to an amount not
less than the amount contracted at the time of the reduction.
Existing law, 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 in general obligation bonds for high-speed
rail and related rail purposes.
This bill, subject to voter approval, would amend the bond act to
provide that no further bonds shall be sold for high-speed rail and
related rail purposes, and would also explicitly authorize the net
proceeds received from outstanding bonds issued and sold prior to the
effective date of these provisions, upon appropriation, to be
redirected from those high-speed rail purposes to retiring the debt
incurred from the issuance and sale of those outstanding bonds. The
bill would direct the Secretary of State to submit these provisions
to the voters on the ballot of the November 4, 2014, statewide
general election.
The bill would also provide that, until November 5, 2014, bond
funds made available pursuant to the bond act shall not be expended
for high-speed rail purposes, and no additional bonds shall be issued
or sold pursuant to the bond act.
(2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) In 2008, the voters approved Proposition 1A, which authorized
the State of California to issue up to $9.95 billion in bonds to
construct a high-speed train system and established the framework and
requirements that the system would be required to achieve.
(b) Since the passage of Proposition 1A, the voters have learned
that the high-speed train system will not be able to meet any of the
requirements of that measure, as follows:
(1) In Proposition 1A, voters were told that the travel time from
Los Angeles to San Francisco would be two hours, 40 minutes. Current
estimates now show that high-speed trains will not be able to meet
this requirement. Instead, it is believed
estimated it will take more than three hours for the high-speed
train to travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
(2) Voters were told that the high-speed train would be able to
maintain a constant speed of 220 miles per hour throughout its
journey. The plan adopted by the High-Speed Rail Authority now shows
that the high-speed train service will have to travel at
dramatically significantly lower speeds on
tracks shared by regional rail systems.
(3) A commitment was made that high-speed rail would reduce the
impacts on communities and the environment by following existing
transportation or utility corridors. The routes that have been
released by the High-Speed Rail Authority show that the high-speed
trains will be going through the middle of family farms, small
businesses, and residential communities that are nowhere near
existing transportation or utility corridors.
(4) The voters were told that the high-speed train system would be
financially viable and would obtain private and public funds for
construction and operation. The cost of the project has continued to
increase and no private funds have been identified.
(c) In November 2013, a superior court judge ruled that the state
could not authorize the issuance of $8 billion in Proposition 1A
bonds and required the High-Speed Rail Authority to rework its
funding plan to identify the funding sources for the project.
(d) The attitude of voters toward the high-speed rail project has
changed dramatically since 2008. A recent USC Dornsife/Los Angeles
Times poll found that 52 percent of Californians are now opposed to
the project and that over 70 percent want the project put back on the
ballot for a revote.
SEC. 2. Section 2704.045 is added to the Streets and Highways
Code, to read:
2704.045. Notwithstanding Section 2704.04, it is the intent of
the Legislature and the people of California that no further bonds
shall be issued and sold for purposes of Sections 2704.06 and
2704.095.
SEC. 3. Section 2704.096 is added to the Streets and Highways
Code, to read:
2704.096. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
chapter, no further bonds shall be issued and sold for purposes of
Sections 2704.06 and 2704.095 on and after the effective date of this
section.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the net
proceeds received from outstanding bonds issued and sold pursuant to
Sections 2704.06 and 2704.095 prior to the effective date of this
section may, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be redirected
from those high-speed rail purposes for use in retiring the debt
incurred from the issuance and sale of those outstanding bonds.
SEC. 4. Section 2704.78 is added to the Streets and Highways Code,
to read:
2704.78. (a) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, bond
funds made available pursuant to Chapter 20 (commencing with Section
2704) shall not be expended for high-speed rail purposes, and no
additional bonds shall be issued or sold pursuant to that chapter, on
and after the effective date of this section.
(2) This subdivision shall not preclude the use of bond proceeds
to retire high-speed rail bond debt to the extent authorized by law.
(b) This section shall become inoperative on November 5, 2014, and
as of January 1, 2015, is repealed unless a later enacted statute,
that is enacted before January 1, 2015, deletes or extends the dates
on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 5. Sections 2 and 3 of this act, adding Sections 2704.045 and
2704.096 to the Streets and Highways Code, would modify the single
object or work of a general obligation bond act previously submitted
to the voters by the Legislature pursuant to Section 1 of Article XVI
of the California Constitution, and subsequently approved by the
voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008, statewide general
election. Accordingly, Sections 2 and 3 of this act shall become
effective only upon approval by the voters. The Secretary of State
shall submit Sections 2 and 3 of this act to the voters on the ballot
of the next statewide general election.
SEC. 6. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to make necessary amendments to the Safe, Reliable
High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century as quickly
as possible to prevent any further funding of a high-speed passenger
train system that differs in both cost and substance from the project
approved by the voters in 2008, it is necessary that this act take
effect immediately.
