Capitol Alert

The latest plan for building a California bullet train system got a very conditional blessing Tuesday from a "peer review committee" of transportation experts.

Will Kempton, the veteran transportation official who heads the committee, told a Senate hearing that the latest revision is "measurably improved" from previous versions.

"It's more reasonable and realistic than previous proposals," said Kempton, who runs the Orange County Transportation Authority.

Senators are weighing whether to give the California High-Speed Rail Authority permission to begin construction on a $6 billion initial segment in the San Joaquin Valley.

Kempton stopped short of recommending approval, but he did say that before money is committed, the Legislature should make sure that there's a competent management structure in place, that the risks are fully weighed, especially whether more money will be forthcoming from the federal government, and that the authority update ridership and operating cost projections.

The rail authority and Gov. Jerry Brown have floated the idea that if the feds don't appropriate more high-speed rail money, the state could complete the $68 billion project with proceeds of the new "cap-and-trade" fees on carbon emissions. The legality of using those funds has been questioned.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned the California Legislature today that the Obama administration will not wait until fall for a vote on high-speed rail, urging its approval in a budget vote next month.

"We need to make sure that the commitment is there to obligate the money," LaHood told reporters at the Capitol, where he was meeting with lawmakers and with Gov. Jerry Brown.

The state's commitment, LaHood said, will be demonstrated when lawmakers "put it in the budget and take a vote on it."

Brown and the California High-Speed Rail Authority want to start construction on a $68 billion rail project by early next year, proposing initially to use $2.6 billion in state rail bond funds and $3.3 billion in federal funds. Lawmakers considering allocating that money remain skeptical, however, and the Legislative Analyst's Office has recommended against it.

LaHood said he was at the Capitol to reiterate the Obama administration's commitment to high-speed rail, while "checking signals" in the Legislature.

He said the suggestion by some lawmakers that they may need more time to consider the proposal - perhaps pushing an up or down vote into the fall - is unacceptable.

"We want to make sure that our partners here understand what's at stake," he said. "We can't wait until the end of summer."

LaHood declined to say what the administration will do if the Legislature does delay, saying, "I'm going to operate on the assumption that people are going to act in good faith."

LaHood praised the Brown administration for a project redesign this year that dramatically reduced its price, from $98 billion.

"My message to the Assembly, to the leadership, is that we need to make sure that there's a continued, strong commitment on the part of the Assembly, as reflected in their budget," he said.

The nonpartisan LAO has criticized the project for its reliance in future years on uncertain federal funding. State Sen. Joe Simitian, the Palo Alto Democrat who chairs the budget subcommittee considering high-speed rail, has said the administration's recent changes to the project would likely require more time to consider beyond when the state budget is adopted next month.

Will Kempton, who chairs a "peer review" committee that has been sharply critical of the state's highly controversial bullet train project, sounded a more positive note Monday during testimony to the Assembly Transportation Committee.

Kempton, a veteran transportation executive who is chief executive of the Orange County Transportation Authority, told the committee that the California High-Speed Rail Authority's recently revised business plan answers some of his committee's criticism, but still leaves the project's long-term finances in doubt. The committee is still working on a formal response to the new business plan.

The new plan still proposes to build an initial segment in the San Joaquin Valley but, in response to criticisms from the peer review committee and others, also proposes to link that section to Los Angeles soon thereafter.

Gov. Jerry Brown and the CHSRA are asking the Legislature to appropriate money from a state bond issue that would be combined with federal funds to build the San Joaquin Valley segment, but there's still no firm financing for the extension to Southern California.

Kempton cited financing and the lack of a competent project management team as "risk levels" that the Legislature must consider before deciding to appropriate construction funds.

Dan Richard, the CHSRA chairman, told the committee that the management team is being recruited now and reiterated that he and Brown see proceeds of auctioning carbon emission credits under the state's new anti-global warming law as the backup source of financing if more federal money is not available.

But the Legislature's budget analyst and other authorities have questioned whether "cap-and-trade" funds could be legally used for the bullet train.

After the state's fiscal analyst criticized California high-speed rail for facing "highly speculative" financial prospects, California High-Speed Rail Authority Chairman Dan Richard defended the $68 billion program this morning by suggesting major transportation projects often lack funding certainty.

Richard urged Assembly members to approve $2.6 billion in state bond funds along with $3.3 billion in federal money to start construction in the Central Valley by the end of the year. He testified in the first of a double-header of legislative budget hearings slated for today.

The project chief, who once served as a Bay Area Rapid Transit board member, said BART and other transportation programs commonly pursued construction without knowing where every dollar would come from.

Despite lowering the proposed cost of California's high-speed rail project to $68 billion, the Brown administration still relies on "highly speculative" funding for the project, the Legislative Analyst's Office said in a report today recommending that construction funding not be approved.

The nonpartisan LAO did recommend that the Legislature approve minimal funding to continue planning for the project.

Gov. Jerry Brown and the California High-Speed Rail Authority propose to use $2.6 billion in high-speed rail bond funds and $3.3 billion in federal funds to start construction in the Central Valley by early next year.

The LAO and other critics of the project have long questioned the authority's reliance on uncertain federal funding to complete the project, an objection raised by the LAO again today.

"Given the federal government's current financial situation and the current focus in Washington on reducing federal spending, it is uncertain if any further funding for the high-speed rail program will become available," the report said, which may be viewed online at this link.

The LAO also questioned whether the state could use revenue from its new cap-and-trade program for the rail project. Cap-and-trade money is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While the high-speed rail project could eventually help the state reduce emissions, the LAO said, it would not come online until after 2020, the year by which the state is trying to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.

The LAO said the administration's shifting focus to rely on existing rail lines in urban areas could be positive. However, it said it is concerned changes to the plan "have been rushed with many important details not having been sorted out."

The LAO said the California High-Speed Rail Authority "has not made a strong enough case for going forward with the project at this time."

PHOTO CREDIT: A rendering of a high-speed train moving through a wind farm in the proposed high speed rail network. Courtesy of California High-Speed Rail Authority.

California lawmakers expressed skepticism Saturday about the timing and magnitude of Gov. Jerry Brown's high-speed rail revision, saying it may take longer than the governor wants to sort through the numbers.

The administration will announce Monday settling on $68.4 billion, according to sources familiar with the plan, proposing major design changes in and around Los Angeles and the Bay Area in an eleventh-hour bid to improve the project's chances of approval by the Legislature.

But some legislators noted today that just last year the Brown administration itself raised the proposed cost to $98 billion.

A coalition representing Northern and Central California contractors and union construction workers launched a radio campaign this week applauding the state's proposed high-speed rail system.

The group's 60-second spots, narrated by comedian Will Durst, are running at least twice daily -- during morning and evening commutes -- on six Sacramento and nine Bay Area radio stations.

The spot by the California Alliance for Jobs can be heard here.

The group's push to rally public opinion comes at a time when the planned high-speed rail system is coming under increasing criticism, sparking efforts to kill it in the wake of a state auditor's report that questions its financing and ridership projections.

A key House panel late Thursday gave the back of its hand to California's embattled high-speed rail program.

In another sign of high-speed rail's political travails, the House committee writing a massive transportation bill, included an amendment that prohibits new federal funds from going to California's proposed $98 billion project during the five-year life of the bill.

"I want to make sure that the money that comes to California goes to highway funding," Republican Rep. Jeff Denham said in an interview.

Denham, who has moved his California residence from Atwater to Turlock, offered the amendment during a long and sometimes contentious markup of the bill dubbed the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act.

Denham's amendment, adopted by a 31-22 vote, marks the first and only time the word 'California' appears in the House transportation bill that started out at 847 pages. It was fought by Democrats, during a hearing that stretched more than 16 hours and ended at 2:45 a.m. Friday.

"I think it's a big mistake," Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, said of Denham's total high-speed rail cutoff. "The high-speed rail authority is rapidly adjusting its program, looking for ways of significantly reducing the cost."

Gov. Jerry Brown said in an interview airing in Los Angeles today that California's high-speed rail project will cost far less than the state's current estimate of nearly $100 billion and that environmental fees paid by carbon producers will be a source of funding.

"It's not going to be $100 billion," the Democratic governor said on ABC 7's Eyewitness Newsmakers program. "That's way off."

Brown's remarks come as his administration prepares revisions to the California High-Speed Rail Authority's latest business plan. Brown is trying to push the project through an increasingly skeptical Legislature following a series of critical reports.

"Phase 1, I'm trying to redesign it in a way that in and of itself will be justified by the state investment," Brown said. "We do have other sources of money: For example, cap-and-trade, which is this measure where you make people who produce greenhouse gasses pay certain fees - that will be a source of funding going forward for the high speed rail."

Brown said, "It's going to be a lot cheaper than people are saying."

The annual spending plan Brown released this month included $1 billion in cap-and-trade revenue for programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The budget document lacked detail, however, saying, "Further detail on specific program areas will be developed when there is more certainty of fees received from the Cap and Trade Program."

The interview aired following Brown's trip last week to Southern California, his second in two weeks as he begins campaigning for his ballot initiative to raise taxes.

"It isn't all, you know, going to football games and buying clothes and cars and gasoline and all the things people want to do in their private life," Brown said. "We also have a public investment, and that's part of the balance of a civilization."

Brown has also proposed changes to reduce pension costs, and he suggested he may take that measure to the ballot, too, if the Legislature does not act.

"One way or the other, if we can't get it through the Legislature," he said, "then there's always the initiative route at some point."

In yet another blow to California's troubled high-speed rail project, California's state auditor said this morning that the project's financing is "increasingly risky" and its oversight inadequate.

In a follow-up report to her agency's 2010 critique of the project, state Auditor Elaine Howle said the California High-Speed Rail Authority's most recent business plan relies on uncertain funding sources and that "the program's overall financial situation has become increasingly risky."

Howle's report is the latest in a series of critical reports about the project, including by the Legislative Analyst's Office and the rail authority's own peer review group. Gov. Jerry Brown is trying to press the nearly $100 billion project through the Legislature this year.

Howle's report questions the authority's ridership projections, saying the group that reviewed those numbers was "handpicked" by the authority's chief executive officer, and it accused the authority of failing to adequately manage its many contractors.

"Without sufficient staffing," the report said, "the authority has struggled to oversee its contractors and subcontractors, who outnumber its employees by about 25 to one."

Howle also said the rail authority violated a state rule prohibiting agencies from splitting contracts to avoid competitive bidding requirements, dividing $3.1 million in information technology services into 13 different contracts with one vendor over 15 months.

In a written response, the rail authority said contract management remains "a huge challenge for the authority due to a lack of sufficient qualified staff." But it discounted as "purely speculative" Howle's claim that the plan is financially risky.

The authority all but conceded that it had mismanaged its information technology contracts, saying it "will develop procedures to detect and prevent contract splitting."

Less than 24 hours after the chief administrator of California's troubled high-speed rail project resigned, Gov. Jerry Brown this morning defended the $98.5 billion project and said he will push it forward.

The resignation of Roelof van Ark, the chief executive officer of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, and an announcement the same day of the planned installation of Brown adviser Dan Richard as chairman of the rail board, were viewed by many as an effort by Brown to recast the project ahead of legislative hearings this year.

"I'm putting my own stamp on state government, slowly but surely," the Democratic governor told reporters after an event in Elk Grove.

He said Richard "knows his material."

The Legislature is highly skeptical of the project, and public opinion has turned against it, according to a recent Field Poll.

"We're pushing forward," Brown said. "We're going to build, but we're not going to be stupid ... We're going to be very careful and build incrementally as we go."

He said, "A lot of people want to turn off the lights. I'm not one of them. We're going to build, we're going to invest, and California is going to stay up among the great states and the great political jurisdictions of the world."

Brown was asked what people might expect to hear from him in his State of the State address next week.

He said, "You're going to hear so much that I wouldn't miss it if I were you."

Roelof van Ark, chief executive officer of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, announced this afternoon that he is quitting, the latest setback for the state's beleaguered campaign to build a nearly $100 billion rail network in California.

His resignation, announced at a board meeting in Los Angeles and effective in two months, comes at a critical point for the project, with rail officials bidding for Legislative approval to start construction in the Central Valley this fall. Public opinion about the project has fallen sharply, according to a recent Field Poll, and the Legislature is highly skeptical.

Minutes after van Ark's announcement, Tom Umberg announced that he is stepping down as chairman of the rail board, though he will remain a member of the board. Umberg is to be replaced next month by Dan Richard, an adviser Gov. Jerry Brown appointed to the board last year.

Brown, a Democrat, became a vocal supporter of the project last year and appointed two advisers, Richard and Mike Rossi, to the rail board. This month, Brown proposed folding the authority into a new state agency, the Transportation Agency, a measure rail officials support.

Van Ark was hired in 2010 and oversaw the authority's creation of an updated business plan that raised the estimated cost of the project to almost $100 billion over 20 years. Lawmakers said the plan was more credible than before, but many lawmakers remain critical of the project's management and cost.

Van Ark cited personal reasons for his resignation.

"I need to focus myself more on my family, and maybe some other interests," he told board members. He said he may continue on the project as a consultant.

Van Ark used his resignation announcement to reiterate his support of the rail authority's decision to start construction in the Central Valley, controversial because it is far from California's population centers. The administration signaled no change of course.

While Richard said he was "very skeptical of that notion" when he joined the board, he said, "I sit here today as somebody who's been fully convinced."

Van Ark told The Bee last year that he considered it a personal challenge to ensure implementation of the project.

"I really believe that California should have a system like this," he said. "This state is so well positioned for high-speed rail."

Editor's note: Updated at 3:05 p.m. to include comments from the meeting in Los Angeles.

PHOTO CREDIT: Roelof van Ark, 2011. The Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling

Rachel Wall, press secretary for the embattled California High-Speed Rail Authority, is leaving the agency to do public relations for a company that has its own image issues from time to time: Wal-Mart.

Wall's departure, announced in an email late Monday night, comes as the rail authority considers overhauling its multimillion dollar outreach and communications effort statewide. The authority's nearly $100 billion bid to build a rail system connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco has come under increasing criticism from the Legislature and public, and its prospects for funding are uncertain.

Rail officials last month put on hold their effort to replace its $9 million outreach contract with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, instead considering handling public relations in-house. Lance Simmens, the authority's deputy director for communications and public policy, is scheduled to brief rail officials on the matter at a meeting in Los Angeles on Thursday.

That will also be Wall's last day at the authority before starting work in Los Angeles for Wal-Mart, the Arkansas-based retailer.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein this week added her voice to the chorus of those who want the California Department of Transportation to take over the state's increasingly controversial high-speed rail project.

In a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown made public Tuesday, Feinstein declared that "deploying the expertise and resources of Caltrans towards this effort over the next six months" could help turn the project around.

Tellingly, Feinstein added that she has spoken about the idea with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood; LaHood, the senator reported, agrees with "the importance of utilizing Caltrans' expertise."

Gov. Jerry Brown reiterated his commitment to California's high-speed rail project today, but he also proposed additional oversight, seeking to fold the troubled High-Speed Rail Authority into a new state agency.

The annual spending plan proposed by the Democratic governor this afternoon includes continued funding for the Rail Authority's operations, but it doesn't yet include bond proceeds to start construction in the Central Valley.

"The Authority's funding plan is under review by the Department of Finance," according to a budget summary. "After the review, the Administration will propose a plan for the initial train segment."

As part of a measure to consolidate state agencies and departments, Brown proposed creating a Transportation Agency, including the Rail Authority, the Highway Patrol and the departments of Transportation and Motor Vehicles, among others.

Tom Umberg, chairman of the Rail Authority board, said in a prepared statement this afternoon, "We embrace the reorganization proposal as it provides additional support and the necessary resources to support this project."

The $98.5 billion rail project faces an increasingly skeptical Legislature and electorate as it prepares to start construction this year. Earlier this week, a peer review group said it could not recommend bond funding until the project's long-term financing plan is more certain.

Brown told reporters today that some of the objections raised by the group "were not that well founded."

"I'm of the view that this is a time for big ideas, not shrinking back and looking for a hole to climb into," he said. "I think we've got to move forward."

In another setback for high-speed rail in California, the project's peer review group told lawmakers today that it could not recommend bond funding for high-speed rail construction until its prospects for long-term funding are clearer.

"The fact that the Funding Plan fails to identify any long term funding commitments is a fundamental flaw in the program," the California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group said in a letter to legislative leaders. "Without committed funds, a mega-project of this nature could be forced to halt construction for many years before additional funding could be obtained."

The peer review group, chaired by former Caltrans director Will Kempton, said many of the California High-Speed Rail Authority's projections remain optimistic.

The group said in its report that "we cannot overemphasize the fact that moving ahead on the HSR project without credible sources of adequate funding, without a definitive business model, without a strategy to maximize the independent utility and value to the State, and without the appropriate management resources, represents an immense financial risk on the part of the state of California."

The report comes at a crucial time, with high-speed rail proponents planning to ask the Legislature this year to appropriate bond proceeds to start construction in the Central Valley. The Rail Authority last year revised the project's estimated cost to almost $100 billion over 20 years, and public sentiment is turning against it, according to a recent Field Poll.

Gov. Jerry Brown last week reiterated his commitment to the project, and the Rail Authority today blasted the Peer Review Group's report.

Tom Umberg, chairman of the authority board, said in a letter to lawmakers that the report is "deeply flawed, in some areas misleading and its conclusions are unfounded." He appealed to lawmakers to look beyond it as they reconvene for the year on Wednesday.

"As the report presents a narrow, inaccurate and superficial assessment of the HSR program," Umberg wrote, "it does a disservice to policy-makers who must confront these decisions."

Brown spokesman Gil Duran said in an e-mail that the Peer Review Group's report "does not appear to add any arguments that are new or compelling enough to suggest a change in course."

PHOTO CREDIT: A view of a high speed train moving through a wind farm in the proposed high speed rail network. Newlands & Co. Inc., courtesy of California High-Speed Rail Authority.

It's unlikely many will be swayed by a high-profile House hearing Thursday on California's high-speed rail program.

Pro and con, political minds are already made up. The hearing's title, crafted by Republican leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, says it all: "California's High-Speed Rail Plan: Skyrocketing Costs and Project Concerns."

Still, the session isn't strictly for show. With testimony scheduled from seven California lawmakers, as well as from seven additional witnesses, the hearing will put one state's ambitions on a national stage while underscoring the difficulties ahead.

"The bottom line is, we want answers," said Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater.

MERCED - Perhaps no project in California needs an image lift more than high-speed rail.

But after trying for five months to hire a public relations company to help with that effort, state rail officials elected Tuesday to go without, at least temporarily.

California High-Speed Rail Authority board members told staff in Merced to put on hold the authority's effort to replace its current, $9 million contract with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, which has been winding down since Ogilvy announced this summer it was quitting.

The authority plans to let the Ogilvy contract expire next week while rail officials consider handling public relations in-house.

The decision follows a report by The Bee this month that the rail authority, in addition to its payments to Ogilvy, was spending millions of dollars on regional, outreach-related sub-contracts embedded in engineering contracts. Last fiscal year, the authority spent $7.2 million on those outreach contracts, and it budgeted about $2.6 million for regional outreach this year.

Lance Simmens, the authority's deputy director for communications and public policy, said in a memorandum to authority board members that he is considering relying on those regional contractors for the authority's statewide outreach campaign, augmented by the addition of six to 10 in-house positions.

The development comes at a critical point for the state's nearly-$100 billion bid to build a high-speed rail system connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. The project is heading into the New Year with diminished public support, and it remains unclear if the Legislature will approve funding next year.

In response to a new poll finding widespread opposition to the state's high-speed rail project, the California High-Speed Rail Authority issued a statement late Monday blaming the "uncertain economy" for voters' mood.

"To back pedal on this project means we reject billions in stimulus funds, lose 100,000 new jobs and, ultimately, pay tens of billions more for congested highways in the long run," the statement said. "The uncertain economy may give some voters pause, but this kind of infrastructure investment and job creation is exactly what we need at this time and we will be making that case to Californians across the state who voted to start this project in 2008."

According to a new Field Poll, nearly two-thirds of voters want to re-vote on the project Californians authorized in 2008, and 59 percent of voters say they would reject the measure if such an election were held.

The poll comes after the rail authority revised the project's estimated cost this fall to almost $100 billion over 20 years, more than twice what was originally thought.

When the California High-Speed Rail Authority released its $98.5 billion plan last week, officials said they were aware of congressional Republicans' distaste for the project.

So the authority didn't count on more federal aid for the project immediately, but it did bet it could find some over time.

Not necessarily because of anything the rail authority might do, but because President Barack Obama might win re-election, a rail official said earlier this week, and because of "continuing transportation challenges" over time.

"I think that after the 2012 election, if President Obama wins, then the 'Obama Rail' thing will, that that dynamic will be changed a bit," Tom Umberg, chairman of the rail authority, said Wednesday in an interview with The Bee's editorial board.

While suggesting criticism of the project in a post-election year might subside, Umberg also said "the other thing that exists is that the continuing transportation challenges are going to continue to add pressure" on politicians to act.

High-speed rail is expensive, the authority said in its business plan, but still cheaper than expanding airport and highway systems for California's growing population.

The rail authority plans to start construction in September. If it had two other wishes for the New Year, they might be these: that voters choose Obama on Election Day and get stuck in traffic on the way.

GOP Sen. Doug LaMalfa wants to send California's high-speed rail project back to the ballot in light of revised cost estimates.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority today released a revised business plan projecting that the total cost of the proposed bullet train could be $98.5 billion over 20 years, far exceeding previous estimates.

LaMalfa, a vocal critic of the project, blasted the authority's earlier cost projections and pledges for federal and private dollars for the project, saying authority members and supporters "have known all along that these targets would not be met."

The Richvale Republican said he plans to introduce legislation that would ask California voters to reconsider the $9 billion in bonds approved for the project in 2008. The bill would likely require two-thirds legislative approval.

"The voters were deceived in the original go-around with highly optimistic ridership and cost numbers that have not been born out," LaMalfa said in an interview, adding that the larger figures ""should have been in front of the voters to begin with so they would have the truth."

Releasing a business plan this morning that projected it could $98.5 billion over 20 years to build California's high-speed rail project, the California High-Speed Rail Authority sought to remake the project's beleaguered image while pressing the Legislature to let it move forward.

"This plan represents a new day, a new time and a new beginning" for the project, said Tom Umberg, chairman of the rail authority board.

Authority officials lined up to speak to reporters at the California State Railroad Museum. A podium was set up in front of a Northwestern Pacific locomotive, its cow-catcher jutting out.

"High speed rail will be hard to do and hard to accomplish," said Dan Richard, a rail authority board member.

However, he said, it will be "worth it for the citizens of California."

The full report can be read here.

A glutton for bad press, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has canceled on the Sacramento Press Club.

Again.

The rail authority, which canceled a luncheon once already at the club -- and delayed the release of its much-awaited business plan -- said this afternoon that it will still release its business plan Nov. 1.

But it will be just somewhere else.

Lance Simmens, the authority's new deputy director for communications and public policy, said he made the call "to roll out what is going to be a very significant business plan at another venue."

That venue, Simmens said, has yet to be picked.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority will delay until at least Nov. 1 the release of updated financial projections for the embattled project, saying new board members need more time to review the plan.

"The California High-Speed Rail Authority has put together an extensive business plan that comprehensively addresses the future of this project," rail board Chairman Tom Umberg said in a release this morning. "At the same time, we have new appointees to the Board who weren't able to be a part of its development. This postponement will provide them the necessary time to participate."

The authority, facing criticism about he project's management and cost, planned to release a business plan in mid-October. It said the delay will not affect the project's schedule.

Gov. Jerry Brown this summer appointed former bank executive Michael Rossi and former Brown adviser Dan Richard to the rail board. Brown said he was seeking to help the authority "get their act together."

"I look forward to having these extra two weeks to delve into the business plan - which numbers in the hundreds of pages - and take a close look at the funding, ridership and implementation information it presents," Richard said in a release. "Governor Brown, the Legislature and all Californians will be well-served by a plan that lays the foundation for the future of this sorely needed transportation option."

Nearly two-thirds of California's likely voters would, if given the chance, stop the state's controversial high-speed rail project, according to a new Probolsky Research poll.

The head of the Irvine-based GOP polling outfit, Adam Probolsky, said that he included state budget priorities and the proposed bullet train, which would link the northern and southern regions of the state, as "fun questions" in a wider attitudinal poll of those likely to vote in next year's election.

The poll found that 62.4 percent of respondents would vote to stop the bullet train project and virtually the same number said they are unlikely ever to travel on the train between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Finally, the project came in dead last, at 11.2 percent, in a list of voters' spending priorities, with education ranking first, followed by public safety, health and welfare services, water and protecting the environment.

The full poll on high-speed rail is available here.

The action at a recent California High-Speed Rail Authority meeting apparently wasn't fast-paced enough to keep the attention of one agency official.

Lance Simmens, HSRA's new deputy director for communications and public policy, was caught nodding off at a public meeting held in Kings County last week. His brief snooze was recorded on camera by a local resident attending the meeting and later posted on the agency's Facebook page and YouTube.

The incident irked local residents and project critics on hand to comment on the proposed bullet train.

Simmens blamed lack of food and water, not lack of interest in the discussion, for his slip, according to a Facebook comment reported by the Hanford Sentinel:

"I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to those in Hanford last evening," the comment by Simmens read. "After arriving just in time to the public hearing from Sacramento, I had not had the opportunity to have either breakfast or lunch and was dehydrated due to the heat. Although I tried to tough it out, it got the best of me and for a while I felt as though I was going to pass out. After hydrating with sufficient liquids, I was revived and attentive to the comments being voiced by all of those attending last night's event. I only wish I had the chance to do so earlier and want to assure all concerned that I was trying my best to stay alert through the entire hearing. Once again, there was absolutely no intention on my part to either shirk my responsibilities or offend those in the audience. I am sure you will appreciate my embarrassment and ask that you focus on my attentiveness for the bulk of the five-hour hearing and not on the short period where I was struggling to not pass out altogether. Thank you."

A HSRA spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.

The brief video of Simmens snoozing is posted below. Read the full Sentinel account of the incident at this link.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said the meeting was held in Kern County. It was in Kings County.

After saying earlier this week that he is working with the California High-Speed Rail Authority to "get their act together," Gov. Jerry Brown this afternoon appointed an adviser from his first administration to the rail authority board.

Dan Richard, Brown's deputy legal affairs secretary and deputy assistant for science and technology when Brown was governor before, replaces Curt Pringle, the former Assembly speaker and Anaheim mayor who resigned last month from the beleaguered agency's board.

Richard, 60, of Piedmont, was previously a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District board and senior vice president of public policy and governmental relations at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Like Brown, Richard is a Democrat.

The appointment comes as Brown seeks to push ahead with California's bid to build a high-speed rail system connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. The project's cost and management have come under increasing criticism this year.

Brown said during a visit to Fresno on Wednesday that his administration is "working directly with the authority to get their act together."

Thomas Umberg, chairman of the rail authority board, praised Richard in a prepared statement.

"His experience and skills make it clear why he has the confidence of Governor Brown," Umberg said.

Jeffrey Barker, executive officer for communications, policy and public outreach at the California High-Speed Rail Authority, is leaving the embattled agency.

The move comes as Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, continues to recast the administration. Barker, a Republican, was appointed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and was an aide to Schwarzenegger before joining the Rail Authority.

Barker said he expects to work through next week.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority is one lobbyist down in D.C. following the departure of Ogilvy Public Relations.

This week, Ogilvy formally reported to the Senate the termination of its lobbying services for the high-speed rail authority. Ogilvy further reported that Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist Drew Maloney had been paid a total of $60,000 this year for his high-speed rail work.

A Republican veteran of Capitol Hill, Maloney works for Ogilvy Government Relations, a subsidiary of Ogilvy Public Relations. Ogilvy PR quit its $9 million contract with the high-speed rail authority in late June, amid accounts that it was about to be fired.

Democrat Mark Kadesh, formerly chief of staff to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, remains registered as a D.C. lobbyist for the rail group.

Curt Pringle resigned today from the embattled California High-Speed Rail Authority board, saying he is doing so to "focus my attention on my company and my other responsibilities."

The former Assembly speaker and Anaheim mayor was chairman of the board for two years before his term ended in June.

"Over the past two years, we have accomplished much in moving this project from a vision to a reality: the hiring of a world-class CEO, being awarded over $3.5 billion in federal funding and deciding on a construction starting segment," Pringle wrote in a letter to the current board chairman, Thomas Umberg. "But that effort has taken much hard work and much more hard work will be needed."

California's bid to build a high speed rail system connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco has come under increasing scrutiny, with lingering questions about the route's location and cost.

Pringle said in his letter that he continues to support the project and is confident it will be finished. However, he said the project "will not be successful without political leadership from the governor." With his resignation, Pringle wrote, Gov. Jerry Brown "will have the ability to appoint someone to reflect his point of view."

Umberg praised Pringle in a prepared statement, saying he "helped turn this project from an idea into a reality."

Its job performance coming under increasing scrutiny, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide is quitting its multimillion dollar contract with the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

"We were unable to develop a solid working relationship with your agency, and that impeded the kind of top-notch work we are accustomed to providing our clients," the public relations company's Michael Law said in a letter Wednesday to rail officials.

The rail authority is struggling to maintain political support as it prepares to start building a rail system between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It has faced questions about cost and ridership projections, among other concerns.

Former state Sen. Quentin Kopp, a former rail authority board member, encouraged rail officials in March to cancel Ogilvy's contract. He said the company's failure was evident in worsening public statements about the project.

The rail board was expected to consider its outreach efforts at a meeting this month. Rail Authority spokesman Jeff Barker said Thursday that rail officials plan replace Ogilvy.

Reacting to criticism from a variety of sources about management of the state's high-speed rail project, the Legislature on Friday moved a second bill to reduce the autonomy of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

The Assembly approved Assembly Bill 145, which would make the authority an advisory body while shifting control of the project to a new state agency called the Department of High-Speed Trains.

The move comes after the Senate on Wednesday voted 26-12 vote to approve Senate Bill 517, which would shift the HSRA into the state Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. Its author is Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, who has been one of the project's sharpest legislative critics.

As envisioned, high-speed trains would connect the southern and northern metropolitan areas of the state through the San Joaquin Valley at speeds up to 200 miles per hour. It's to be financed with a $9.95 billion bond issue already approved by voters plus funds from the federal government and outside investors.

Controversies have erupted over routes and what critics say is a faulty business plan that relies on inflated ridership estimates. A number of outside organizations, including the Legislature's budget analyst, MacTaylor, have joined in the critical chorus.

During Friday's brief floor debate, Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Laguna Niguel, warned colleagues that the project is a looming financial disaster. But the author of AB 145, Livingston Democrat Cathleen Galgiani replied, "The train has left the station. We're trying to make go on the right track." Her measure was approved by a 50-16 vote.

It's a double-whammy for California's high-speed rail project.

On Tuesday, the Legislature's budget analyst, Mac Taylor, released a sharply critical report of the California High-Speed Rail Authority's efforts to build a bullet train system linking the northern and southern halves of the state.

Today, the chairman of a "peer review" committee that also reviewed the project is due to air many of the same criticisms to a special state Senate committee that's overlooking the project.

Will Kempton, a former state transportation director who now heads the Orange County Transportation Authority, told the Legislature in a letter last week that while he and other members of the peer review team see some improvements in the HSRA's operations, there are still many shortcomings.

The letter cites the authority's lack of staff to oversee dozens of consulting contracts and unanswered questions about costs, public and private financing, the extent of taxpayers' exposure and ridership projections, among other issues.

Voters approved a $9.95 billion bond issue to finance the state's share of the bullet train system, with the remainder to come from the federal government, local transit systems and private investors. But the costs of the system have been in flux. The current number for the first phase between Anaheim and San Francisco is $43 billion but Taylor and Kempton both contend that the real number is probably higher.

State law also bars taxpayer-financed subsidies for bullet train operations but Kempton's team says it's unclear what that means.

The project was to be discussed by an Assembly budget committee this morning but the hearing was delayed so that legislators could digest Taylor's report. He recommended that the HSRA receive only token funds to continue its operations until several issues are ironed out.

California's high-speed rail project is threatened by erratic financing, the state's precarious financial situation and management shortcomings and should be overhauled, the Legislature's budget analyst said Tuesday.

The highly critical report by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor's office concluded that management of the project be shifted from the state High-Speed Rail Authority into the Department of Transportation and the entire program undergo reevaluation -- especially the decision to build an initial segment in the San Joaquin Valley.

The report details "a number of problems that pose threats to the high-speed rail project's successful development" and adds: "The Legislature faces some challenging choices about whether to continue with a project that, despite the problems outlined above, could have some reductions in spending for transportation improvements as well as air quality and other environmental benefits."

Gov. Jerry Brown has asked for an $185 million appropriation to keep the project moving, but the analyst says only $7 million should be approved "at this time" while managerial and operational questions are answered.

The report was the latest in a string of critical outside examinations of the project, which envisions high-speed trains connecting Northern California with the south part of the state through the San Joaquin Valley. The project's lack of a cogent business plan and its ridership projections have been sharply criticized in official reviews and there are numerous fights over specific routes, especially on the San Francisco Peninsula.

Rail authority CEO Roelof van Ark issued a statement on the report saying he believes the project "has been successful thus far because it has strived to operate more like a private business than a typical government bureaucracy."

"I hope to work with the Legislature to come up with solutions that benefit all Californians and allow us to move forward with the successful completion of the state's high-speed rail system - and we hope that this report at least encourages healthy discussion towards that goal," he said.

The full report can be found here.

Editor's note: This post was updated at 12:53 p.m. with a statement from van Ark.

California's high-speed rail plans picked up more momentum Monday, as the Obama administration announced an additional $368 million to boost rail travel through the Central Valley.

The grant includes $300 million to stretch the initial high-speed rail route from Bakersfield toward Merced, and $68 million to purchase rail equipment.

California's share is part of $2 billion newly awarded by the Transportation Department as a result of Florida rejecting the rail funds.

"These projects will put thousands of Americans to work, save hundreds of thousands of hours for American travelers every year, and boost U.S. manufacturing," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood declared.

The California money will enable the state to extend its high-speed rail route an additional 20 miles. Transportation Department officials said Monday this will "take the track and civil work from Fresno to the 'Wye' junction, which will provide a connection to San Jose to the West and Merced to the north."

A separate federal grant will help the state buy 15 passenger rail cars and 4 locomotives for use on the Pacific Surfliner, San Joaquin, and Capitol Corridors in California.

Twenty-four states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak submitted nearly 100 applications for the Florida funds.

Sometimes, it seems like everyone gets their own congressional caucus on Capitol Hill. There's a Friends of Norway Caucus, an Afterschool Caucus, a Zero Capital Gains Tax Caucus. And then there are the really big ones, like the 200--plus member Congressional Wine Caucus, currently co-chaired by Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River.

Now, high-speed rail aficionados will get a caucus to call their own.

On Wednesday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, will join with House and Senate members at Washington's Union Station to tout formation of what they call the new Bi-Cameral High- Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Caucus.

Politically, the new group has its work cut out for it, as a number of congressional Republicans have voiced skepticism about high-speed rail projects, including California's multibillion dollar plan.

Freshman Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, caught some of his fellow California lawmakers by surprise this week when he authored an amendment to block federal funding this year for California's high-speed rail program.

Late Wednesday, he withdrew his amendment in exchange for what he says is an agreement to secure more federal oversight.

The amendment was one of nearly 600 House members authored, but didn't always introduce for a vote. Denham said that Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Penn., agreed to maintain oversight of the state's use of federal dollars in the high-speed rail program. Shuster chairs the House Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials subcommittee. Shuster further agreed to hold a hearing in California if necessary, Denham said.

On Thursday, Denham joined Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, in introducing legislation that would allow California to turn over its federal high-speed rail dollars to improvements along State Route 99.

In practice, there could well be some legal impediments to taking federal funds provided for one purpose and turning them to another; as a symbolic gesture, though, the bill makes a statement over what Denham termed the "ever-escalating costs" of California's high-speed rail project..

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday rejected a federal offer of $2.4 billion for high-speed rail projects, a move that could conceivably create another opening for California.

In a statement, quickly picked up on by the Miami Herald's Leslie Clark, Scott said he didn't think the proposed Tampa-to-Orlando line made economic sense.

"Capital cost overruns on the project could put Florida on the hook for an additional $3 billion," Scott said.

Some Florida lawmakers, though, pinpointed their own fears that California might pick up the dropped offerings.

"Governor Scott's decision demonstrates a devastating lack of vision for Florida and a lack of understanding of our economic situation," Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. said. "He should immediately reconsider his decision in order to save these jobs and not send the investment dollars to California and other states.

The Obama administration on Tuesday accelerated its plans for high-speed rail, as Vice President Joe Biden announced a six-year, $53 billion plan.

The ambitious proposal is meeting with applause from California's high-speed rail proponents, some of whom were in the audience for the announcement, but it is also facing skepticism from congressional Republicans.

Meeting with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, Biden said the administration's upcoming budget will propose a further down-payment of $8 billion for high-speed rail. Biden and LaHood contended the funding, and the longer-term plans, will provide the kind of federal commitment state and local agencies require for their own planning.

"In America, we pride ourselves on dreaming big and building big," LaHood said.

The proposal presented Tuesday did not identify state-by-state funding. California could expect a share, though; Roelof van Ark, the chief executive officer of California's High Speed Rail Authority, was, not coincidentally, in the Philadelphia audience.

But on Capitol Hill, where the funding rubber meets the road, key GOP leaders are saying slow down.

"This is like giving Bernie Madoff another chance at handling your investment portfolio," said Rep. John Mica of Florida, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

A state appeals court today ruled that the state Legislature did not have authority to draft its own ballot language for the successful high-speed rail bond measure lawmakers placed on the 2008 ballot.

State law tasks the state attorney general with writing an impartial ballot title, label and official summary for "measures to be voted on throughout the State," though the Legislature has in the past drafted language for measures it places on the ballot with a two-thirds vote.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association had challenged the ballot language for Proposition 1A, arguing the Legislature used its pen to "lavish praise on its measure in language that virtually mirrored the argument in favor of the proposition."

The appeals court sided with HJTA, ruling in a 23-page decision published today.

"Simply stated, the Legislature cannot dictate the ballot label, title and official summary for a statewide measure unless the Legislature obtains approval of the electorate to do so prior to placement of the measure on the ballot," the decision reads.

HJTA President Jon Coupal applauded the decision, saying "no longer can the California Legislature use the ballot pamphlet as a biased advertising for its own pet ballot measures."

The decision does not invalidate the passage of the high-speed rail act, which was approved with roughly 52 percent of the vote. It is unclear how it will impact the water bond and "rainy day fund" measures already approved for future ballots.

Read the full decision here.

California's high-speed rail project has been sharply criticized in recent months by the Legislature, by the Legislature's budget analyst, and by the University of California's Institute of Transportation Studies.

This week, as the High-Speed Rail Authority was approving the first segment for construction near Fresno - and receiving more criticism from advocates of other regions - it was also being hammered by a "peer review group" of transportation experts.

The ad hoc group of experts, organized by the Legislature and headed by Will Kempton, the former state director of transportation, said in a report that the project needs "a thorough reassessment of a number of critical engineering, financial, economic and managerial issues."

It describes a chicken-or-the-egg series of critical issues that must be resolved, including a lack of adequate staff, a business model that clarifies who will be responsible for what phase of the project, the changing political climate for the massive federal aid the project would require and strategies for attracting outside investment under the restrictions imposed by the ballot measure that authorized the project.

Two members of the state's High-Speed Rail Authority have been serving illegally because they hold "incompatible offices" barred by state law, the Department of Justice says in an opinion sought by a state senator.

Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, sought the opinion in response to news media accounts and complaints by former Sen. Quentin Kopp, who carried legislation creating the agency that's working on a high-speed train system linking Souithern and Northern California.

Specifically, Lowenthal asked whether Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a former state Assembly speaker, and former Assemblyman Richard Katz, could legally serve on the HSRA. At the time, Katz was a member of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Critics said that it was improper for Pringle and Katz to serve on the state board while directly or indirectly representing their communities in dealings on bullet train routes, station sites and other matters.

The Department of Justice opinion, published this week, backs Kopp and other critics, concluding, "In this case, each of the offices in question falls within the definition of a public office. Each is either an elective office (as is the mayor of the City of Anaheim) or an appointed membership on a governmental board (as are the members of transit districts), and all of them carry some of the sovereign powers of government. We conclude, therefore, that each of the offices in question is a public office subject to the prohibitions of section 1099."

The opinion comes too late to affect Pringle and Katz. The latter resigned from the HSRA Wednesday as the opinion was released and Pringle's term as mayor of Anaheim ends next week, so he can remain on the state board.

It would, however, affect future appointments to the authority, which has come under intense legislative scrutiny in recent months for its decisions and what critics say is an incomplete business plan for the proposed system.