A letter by the Orange County Transit Authority is urging California’s lawmakers to not give billions of dollars in funding to the High Speed Rail Authority. That money, they say, needs to be held until the HSR plan fulfills all of the requirements of Proposition 1A, which authorized the program in 2008.
As it is written now, the Business Plan presented by the HSR Authority fails to identify the full funding for the project, produce enough initial track to support high speed rail trains, and leaves the taxpayer exposed to too great of a risk. Currently, according to a draft letter, “the funding plan is largely speculative and lacks any firm commitment of funding beyond the initial construction section.”
The position of the OCTA is benign compared to that of Kings County, which has filed a lawsuit to stop the state from giving the money to the authority.
From the Voice of the OC:
The Orange County Transportation Authority is set Monday to urge leaders of California’s proposed $98-billion high-speed rail project to slow down and fix the project’s financing problems before tapping into billions in state taxpayers dollars.
A draft letter scheduled for a vote by the OCTA’s 17-member board states it has “grave concern over what appears to be missing elements and unrealistic components of the [newest business] plan.”
“We urge the CHSRA [California High-Speed Rail Authority] to address the serious concerns regarding the Plan raised by the Legislative Analyst’s Office prior to submission of this plan to the Legislature.”
Read the full article here.