SACRAMENTO — A $9 billion bond measure to start construction of a 700-mile, high-speed rail system was approved by the state Senate Wednesday, but the bill didn’t get the two-thirds majority it ultimately will need, a wire service reported.
The measure, by Sen. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, would allow the state to sell bonds to help pay for the first leg of a system designed to link California’s major metropolitan areas with trains running at top speeds of more than 200 mph.
Supporters also hope to tap federal funds and perhaps private financing to pay for the first leg, between Los Angeles and San Francisco. They contend there would be enough revenue from that line to pay for extensions to San Diego and Sacramento.
“High-speed rail is going to happen in California in the 21st century,” Costa said. “The question is, Does it happen sooner or later?”
The bill needs approval from lawmakers, the governor and voters to take effect, and it will need two-thirds majorities in the Senate and Assembly.
But Costa amended the measure to allow the 40-member Senate to send it to the Assembly on a simple majority, 21-9 vote.
That enabled the bill to meet a deadline for bills introduced this year to pass their first house and gave Costa time to try to muster the two-thirds majorities he’ll need to get the bill to the ballot.
But Sen. Tom McClintock, R- Northridge, questioned the supporters’ ridership predictions and said the state would be better off spending the money on expanding freeways or airports.
“When the definitive history of California boondoggles is written, this one will loom above all others,” he said.
Sens. Tom Torlakson, D-Martinez, and Jack Scott, D-Altadena, said high-speed rail systems have worked well in Europe and Japan and that California will need alternatives to highways and planes as its population booms over the next several decades.
“We know that … one of the most efficient and least polluting ways to move people is to move people by train,” Scott said.
“If you think that in some way or another you can get around very quickly by air from Los Angeles to San Francisco, you have not been standing in the lines I have been standing in.”