By Bob Walsh
A very interest court hearing took place today in Sacramento, CA. The subject was the future of the so-called High-Speed-Rail project in California. This is significant as this is Governor Brown’s pet project, his legacy as it were. And it is in trouble.
The enabling legislation for this boondoggle was a voter passed initiative. The legislature does NOT have the ability to diddle with it too much. Neither does the governor. There are performance objectives written into the law, and financial requirement.
A small conglomeration of opponents has filed suit against the HSR authority on the basis that they are (allegedly) not in compliance with the requirements of Proposition 1A and essentially never will be. Many of these technical issues have been acknowledged as true by the HSR authority, which has already scaled back on time and cost promises.
The judge has 90 days to issue his ruling. It is within the realm of possibility, maybe even likely, that he will drive a spike through the very expensive heart of HSR. It is, I assure you, a goal to be hoped for.
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