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For what it's worth, here's a press release that Schwarzenegger's
office issued today:<br>
<br>
<p class="title" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"
align="center"><b><font color="black" face="Arial Black" size="5"><span
style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: "Arial Black"; font-weight: normal;">Gov.
Schwarzenegger Puts
Taxpayer Protections into <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="title" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"
align="center"><b><font color="black" face="Arial Black" size="5"><span
style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: "Arial Black"; font-weight: normal;">High
Speed Rail Bond on November
Ballot<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="content"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Governor
Arnold
Schwarzenegger today signed <a
href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery">AB 3034</a>,
authored by Assemblymember
Cathleen Galgiani (D- Livingston), adding taxpayer protections and
financial guidelines
to the High-Speed Train Bond Act on the November 2008 ballot. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span
style="font-size: 12pt;">“Californians deserve the opportunity to vote
on a high speed
rail proposition that includes taxpayer protections and financial
guidelines,”
said Governor Schwarzenegger. “With these technical changes, voters
can now be assured that if the bond is approved, high speed rail would
be built
as planned and with fiscal controls ensuring financial accountability.”<o:p><br>
</o:p></span></font></p>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">AB
3034 will replace Proposition 1 with Proposition 1A on the November
ballot. The measure improves the High-Speed Train Bond Act by including
fiscal
controls for taxpayer protection including the requirement of a peer
reviewed
financial plan before bond money can be spent. Additionally, the
measure
enables public-private partnership financing and limits the amount of
bond
money that can be spent on non-construction items.<br>
<br>
</span></font><br>
John-Marc Chandonia wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:20080827030634.GA2869@sfgreens.org" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">The bulk of Alameda's argument against Prop 1 is that all the money so
far has gone to a corrupt contractor. However, the legislation does
not require that contractor to actually build it; we could still
approve the bond and then try to get our state reps to raise concerns
about the contractor. Besides, if we blocked every government project
built by corrupt contractors, we'd be living on sand dunes.
I also agree that the promotional case for rail is overblown in terms
of ridership, but we should look towards how many people will want to
ride the rail after the effects of peak oil become more apparent, and
the cost of driving or flying to LA becomes prohibitive. The power
for an electric train can come from a variety of sources, and don't
necessarily have to come from coal. It's much more likely to get
something built if we start now, and not after gas becomes even more
expensive (as that will raise costs for construction and materials,
and voters who can't afford to drive to work will be even less likely
to pass a bond).
JMC
</pre>
<pre wrap="">
<hr size="4" width="90%">
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