A judge in Sacramento ruled on Friday the agency overseeing high speed rail development failed to comply with financial and environmental restrictions placed on the project by voters. But Brown says work hasn’t stopped.

“As we speak we’re spending money. We’re moving ahead,” he said. “And I consider the high speed rail a test of our imagination, of our political will. Is California a state that can do big things, do great things? And I think we can.”

The judge declined to immediately stop funding to the project. He says he’ll hold a hearing in the future to consider the issue.

Work on the first phase of the rail line is slated to begin this year.