From the desk of Assemblyman Jay Obernolte…

 

“The HIGH SPEED Fail”

 

March 7, 2019___     

In the governor’s State of the State address last month, he acknowledged that the high-speed rail project is doomed to failure due to its enormous price tag and lack of transparency and oversight. Instead, he has proposed to reduce the scope of the project by building a route from Merced to Bakersfield, which makes little fiscal sense. 

 

Just this week, the LA Times did an analysis on the High-Speed Rail’s finances and found that Governor Newsom’s scaled back version is likely to come up at least a billion dollars short – and that’s the best-case-scenario.

As the Times pointed out, “the rail authority has blown through original cost estimates, taking the project from $33 billion to at least $77 billion” due to “massive increases for environmental reviews and land acquisition” and “tens of millions of dollars in delay claims to construction firms.” 

 

Unfortunately, to this day, the problems with this project continue to mount. I believe this wasteful and costly project needs to be cancelled since it clearly, no longer meets the promises that were made to the voters who approved it. 

 

It’s an honor to represent you. 

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