Court gives California’s proposed high-speed rail project a boost

File-This undated file image provided by the California High Speed Rail Authority shows an artist's rendering of a high-speed train speeding along the California coast. File-This undated file image provided by the California High Speed Rail Authority shows an artist's rendering of a high-speed train speeding along the California coast. Photo: Anonymous / Associated Press Photo: Anonymous / Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Court gives California’s proposed high-speed rail project a boost 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Gov. Jerry Brown’s high-speed rail project took a step forward Wednesday when the state Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by opponents of the first-stage funding for the proposed San Francisco-to-Los Angeles line.

State voters approved $8.6 billion in bonds in 2008 for a project that is projected to cost $68 billion. Before construction could begin on the first 130-mile segment in the Central Valley, a Sacramento County judge blocked the bond sale last year, saying the state first needed to gain environmental clearance and identify sources of funding for the rest of the planned rail line.

But the state’s Third District Court of Appeal reversed that ruling July 31 and said the bond sale could proceed. While further funding plans and environmental review will be needed at later stages, the court said, the initial plan met legal requirements that allowed the Legislature to decide whether to commit money to the project.

Opponents, including Kings and Kern counties, Union Pacific Railroad, and some Central Valley landowners, appealed to the state’s high court. They argued that the appellate decision shielded the funding process from public review and authorized billions of dollars in bonds that the Legislature had never approved.

The court denied review without comment Wednesday. Only Justice Marvin Baxter voted to grant a hearing, three short of the majority needed on the seven-member court.

Other legal disputes remain in the project’s path. In its July ruling, the appeals court said opponents had raised legitimate concerns, to be addressed in the future, about whether the system the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority proposes to build “is the project approved by the voters.”

But the rail authority’s board chairman, Dan Richard, said Wednesday’s decision was a significant victory.

“This decision reaffirms that the authority can continue building a modern high-speed rail system that connects the state, creates jobs and complies with the law,” he said.

Harold Johnson of the Pacific Legal Foundation, a lawyer for opponents of the project, said he was disappointed by the court order.

“It allows billions of dollars in bonds to be sold right now even before we know what they’ll be spent on,” he said.

When completed, the train is supposed to make the San Francisco-to-Los Angeles trip in less than three hours at speeds of up to 220 mph. It has become a legacy project for Brown — as the California Water Project was for his father, Gov. Edmund “Pat” Brown — and he negotiated $250 million in funding from lawmakers this year, while earmarking 25 percent of the state’s cap-and-trade fuel tax revenue for the rail line in future years.

Brown’s Republican opponent, Neel Kashkari, has dubbed the project the “crazy train” and promised to cancel it on his first day in office if he is elected in November.

The case is California High-Speed Rail Authority vs. Superior Court (Tos), S220926.