Homeless in Arizona

I think that these fools in the California legislature are under the delusion that since Federal pork will pay for much of the project that people in other states will pay for their high speed railroad pork.

Of course that is giving them the benifit of the doubt and assuming they are not crooks.

I suspect in reality they voted for the project to pay back some of special interest groups that gave them money to help them get elected.

Source

Legislature approves high-speed rail spending

Marisa Lagos

Updated 04:43 p.m., Friday, July 6, 2012

(07-06) 16:23 PDT Sacramento --

A divided state Senate approved billions of dollars in funding to start construction on California's ambitious high speed rail line Friday, handing the controversial project $7.9 billion in state and federal money for the first 130-miles of track and a series of local transit upgrades.

The funding measure, which was easily approved in the Assembly Thursday, will now head to Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed lawmakers to approve it. In all, the state Legislature this week authorized the issuance of $4.6 billion in state bond funds - about half of the $9.9 billion approved by voters in 2008 - and opened the door for California to obtain $3.3 billion in federal grants, for a total of $7.9 billion in spending.

It was a key vote: Federal transportation officials had warned that if they money was not made available this summer, they would yank the $3.4 billion in stimulus funds and give it to other states.

And it was as tough win for Democratic leaders, who weren't sure by midday if they had the votes to pass the measure. Democrats refused to support the plan, giving supporters the bare minimum of 21 votes. One of those lawmakers, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, spoke for 15 minutes about the project's strengths and weaknesses before ultimately saying he could not support the details being weighed Friday.

"I think high-speed rail makes sense in California ...but we're not being asked to vote on a vision today, we're being asked to vote on a particular plan," he said, critiquing the cost and placement of the initial stretch of track and noting that the $3.3 billion in federal funds is about five percent of the project's total cost.

"We will be expected to put up twenty times that amount over the course of how many years.... Regrettably the only conclusion I can come to today is that this is the wrong plan in the wrong place in the wrong time," Simitian added.

During the two hour debate, supporters countered that they had a responsibility to look beyond today's fiscal challenges and vote yes for what they said would be a short-term boost to jobs and local transit systems, and a long-term investment in the state. Some referenced bold public works projects of the past; Sen. Michael Rubio compared it to President Lincoln's pursuit of transcontinental rail.

"In the era of term limits, how many chances do we have to vote on something this important and long lasting? How many chances do we have to vote on something that will inject a colossal stimulus into today's economy while looking into the future far beyond our days in this house?" said Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "Do we have the ability to see beyond the challenges, the political point-scoring and controversies of today? Are we willing to take some short-term risk, knowing that the benefit to this great state will be, for centuries, enormous?"

The cost of the high-speed rail line - now estimated at $68 billion - has ballooned in size since voters approved the high-speed rail bonds four years ago, and public support for the bullet train has fallen as projected costs rose. The high-speed system would connect San Francisco to Los Angeles with trains expected to run as fast as 220 mph.

Most of the money approved this week - about $5.9 billion - is for construction of the first, 130-mile stretch of railway in the Central Valley from Bakersfield to Madera. Another $250 million is for environmental and design work.

But a large chunk, $1.9 billion, is earmarked for local mass transit system improvements in Northern and Southern California, including $140 million for new BART cars, $600 million for Caltrain electrification and $61 million for Muni's Central Subway. Another $500 million is for improvements to Los Angeles area transit systems.

On Friday, critics questioned whether those projects are truly connected to the statewide rail system.

But it was the location of the first phase of construction - a detail demanded by the federal government - that proved the most controversial. Critics have derided it as a "train to nowhere," and many farmers in the Central Valley are angry about rail authority plans to seize some farmland and homes to make way for the bullet train.

"We are getting an upgraded Amtrak line in the Central Valley for $6 billion," said Simitian. "And oh, by the way, it's in a low ridership area ... a million potential riders as opposed to 28 million in the north and southern ends of the state."

Republicans also attacked the project's escalating costs -- it was estimated at $40 billion when voters authorized the project in 2008. It's still not clear how the state will pay for later phases of construction.

Several speakers referenced a Field Poll, released this week, which showed support potentially slipping for Brown's tax plan if lawmakers authorize the rail funding. Republican Sen. Tony Strickland, of Thousand Oaks (Ventura County) asked why Democrats would prioritize a bullet train over saving a health care program for poor kids, or putting more funding toward education.

"I do believe Californians will remember in November - they will remember how out of touch you are in your spending priorities when you ask them to dig deeper," he said. "They will see you spent money we simply don't have."

Chronicle staff writer Wyatt Buchanan contributed to this report.

Marisa Lagos is a Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mlagossfchronicle.com