Sale of California High Speed Rail Bonds Halted by Judge

Last week, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge rejected the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s funding plan for the controversial $68 billion bullet train. The CHSRA requested the judge to allow it to sell $8 billion of the Proposition 1A bonds, totaling $10 billion, but this request was denied as the presiding judge ruled that the CHSRA lacked evidence that bond sales were necessary or even desirable.

The judge scolded a committee of state officials for accepting the CHSRA’s request to sell bonds at face value and without independent determination of the need and advantage associated with selling the rail bonds.

The immediate effect of this ruling is derailment of the CHSRA’s $68 billion funding plan, at least for the near future. Experts estimate that the authority will require months, or even years, to draw up a new funding proposal. Alternatively, CHSRA officials claim to already be drafting a new funding plan, and claim that it will be completed much sooner than naysayers estimate. In fact, rail officials claim that the instant ruling will not have a “material effect on the project.”

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