Bill Text: CA SJR30 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Senate Joint Resolution 30 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Amtrak National Network.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 65-10-1)

Status: (Passed) 2018-09-12 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 246, Statutes of 2018. [SJR30 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SJR30-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Joint Resolution

No. 30

Introduced by Senator McGuire
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Friedman)
(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Cannella, Dodd, Galgiani, Leyva, Pan, Roth, and Wiener)

August 09, 2018

Relative to the Amtrak National Network.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SJR 30, as introduced, McGuire. Amtrak National Network.

This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to support the retention of, and investment in, the Amtrak National Network of passenger trains, specifically the California Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, the Southwest Chief, and the Sunset Limited, as vital components of the state’s rail program and would urge Amtrak management to invest in the Amtrak National Network from its annual capital grant in reasonable proportion to the revenue generated by Amtrak trains.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, Amtrak was created in 1971, after years of downgrading and neglect of passenger trains by the major United States rail carriers, with the explicit purpose to provide uniform and rising standards of service for all United States citizens; and

WHEREAS, Over the last one-half century—despite political attempts to kill the service, the hostility of host rail carriers, starvation of capital investment, and chronic equipment shortages—ridership has steadily increased while operating costs have more and more been covered at the fare box; and

WHEREAS, With the demise of small town airports and the elimination of bus service, Amtrak National Network trains are often the only form of public transportation available to thousands of small communities nationwide, and are a vital link between urban and rural America; and

WHEREAS, Amtrak National Network interstate trains, together with the regional state supported services and local commuter services, form the basis of a national passenger train network; and

WHEREAS, In the face of crumbling and overcrowded highway infrastructure, rising fuel prices, environmental degradation, crowded airports, and a rising death toll on the nation’s highways, passenger trains offer a modern, environmentally sensitive, convenient, safe, efficient, productive and relaxing way for Americans to travel from place to place, while providing good paying, meaningful employment to thousands of workers; and

WHEREAS, The current Amtrak management led by President and CEO Richard H. Anderson, formerly the head of Delta and Northwest Airlines, is in the process of closing dozens of small town train stations, downgrading food service and various amenities aboard many trains, while threatening to eliminate other trains completely; and

WHEREAS, President Donald J. Trump has proposed to cut federal funding to Amtrak in his federal budget proposal; and

WHEREAS, The Amtrak National Network of long distance trains generates a third of Amtrak revenue but has received a tiny fraction of investment from Amtrak’s annual capital grant for the past two decades; and

WHEREAS, Amtrak National Network trains operate over 1,600 route miles in the State of California; and

WHEREAS, California would lose Amtrak passenger rail connectivity between north and south if these trains ceased to operate; and

WHEREAS, Amtrak proposes to eliminate through service between Los Angeles and Chicago, known as the Southwest Chief, and substitute bus service for part of the route, and may propose to ask the states for money to operate the residual services; and

WHEREAS, Elimination of the Amtrak National Network trains will cause overhead costs to be added to California’s corridor rail services; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature views the Amtrak National Network as a federal program and does not approve of breaking up the Amtrak National Network into corridors and requiring states to pay for the service, and Californians should not have to pay twice for less service; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature urges Congress and the President of the United States to support the retention of, and investment in, the Amtrak National Network of passenger trains, specifically the California Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, the Southwest Chief, and the Sunset Limited, as vital components of the state’s rail program; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature urges Amtrak management to invest in the Amtrak National Network from its annual capital grant in reasonable proportion to the revenue generated by Amtrak trains; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to President and CEO Richard H. Anderson of Amtrak, to Secretary Elaine L. Chao of the United States Department of Transportation, and to the author for appropriate distribution.