Public Utilities Code, 1951

Claims for money or damages against the authority are governed by Government Code Division 3.6, unless another statute or regulation expressly applies or that division provides otherwise.

The authority may apply for and receive funding, but its funds must be kept in a separate account and tracked independently.

This division does not supersede or interfere with activities, plans, or actions of other local agencies.

A qualifying group or association of small agricultural customers cannot be denied eligibility for compensation just because it also includes large agricultural customers.

This section defines terms used in the article about computer models for public utilities.

Computer models and databases used in commission hearings must be available for verification and cross-examination, with listed assumptions and equations for model-based testimony.

If the commission decides a receiver is warranted, it may ask the superior court to appoint one to take possession of PG&E property and operate the system.

If the commission finds certain water or sewer system corporations are unable, unwilling, abandoned, or unresponsive, it may ask the superior court to appoint a receiver.

This division may be cited as the California High-Speed Rail Act.

The Legislature makes findings about California’s transportation needs and says the state should prepare a high-speed intercity rail plan and designate an entity to implement it.

This section defines key terms used in the division, including “Authority,” “Department,” and “High-speed rail.”

This section creates the High-Speed Rail Authority, sets its membership and appointment structure, and requires the authority to elect a chairperson and vice chairperson.

Voting members of the authority get $100 per day when attending authority business, capped at $500 per month, and are reimbursed for actual travel expenses.

The authority must appoint an executive director, and the Governor may appoint up to six additional exempt positions for the project. The authority also sets compensation, with Human Resources approval, and pay cannot exceed the highest comparable compensation identified by the salary survey.

The authority must direct development and implementation of intercity high-speed rail service integrated with the existing intercity rail and bus network.

If funded in the Budget Act, the authority must prepare a state high-speed train network plan. The authority also has exclusive responsibility for planning, construction, and operation of high-speed passenger train service over 125 miles per hour, subject to the stated exception for other agencies’ lawful powers.

The authority must prepare, publish, adopt, and submit a business plan on a recurring schedule, publish a draft at least 60 days before publication, hold a public hearing, and consider comments before adopting the plan.

The authority must submit a project update report to legislative committees every two years, starting on or before March 1, 2017, and the report must be approved by the Secretary of Transportation.

The authority must develop and keep updated schedules and report funding and cost information for the Merced to Bakersfield segment.

The authority must include a detailed funding plan for the Merced to Bakersfield segment in its business plan due on or before May 1, 2026.

The authority may carry out listed high-speed rail planning, financing, contracting, and public-information activities.

People selected by the authority for peer review are treated as designated employees, and the authority is treated as the appointing power.

The authority must set up an independent peer review group to review its plans and financing, and the group must report its findings to the Legislature within 60 days after receiving the plans.

If the funding approval condition is met, the authority may enter contracts, acquire rights-of-way, issue debt, make development agreements, set fares and schedules, and relocate highways and utilities.

The authority must try to buy high-speed train rolling stock and related equipment made in California, when consistent with federal and state law.

The authority must approve any contract change order worth more than $100,000,000.

The authority must notify specified legislative committee chairpersons before applying for federal funding or, after June 1, 2022, before releasing certain RFPs, and the notices must include specified details.

The authority may contract with the department to do project design and engineering work, including construction inspection, for high-speed rail projects.

Lawsuits against the authority must be filed in a court with proper jurisdiction in Sacramento County.

The authority may sell or exchange surplus high-speed rail property, but it must give mailed notice to the last known owner before sale and wait at least 30 days after notice.

The authority may sell or lease excess right-of-way parcels to municipalities or other local agencies for public purposes, and may accept certain maintenance or landscaping benefits as consideration.

The authority may lease certain nonoperating right-of-way areas, help fund local parks and recreation there, accept maintenance or landscaping benefits as consideration, and classify parts of the rights-of-way as nonoperating.

The authority may lease certain rail property for up to 99 years, but it must check local zoning first, use prescribed procedures, require competitive bidding for private leases, and deposit lease revenue into the High-Speed Rail Property Fund.

The High-Speed Rail Property Fund is created in the State Treasury, and related revenue must be deposited into it.

This section defines several terms used in the chapter, including “high-speed rail property,” “person,” “utility,” and “utility facility.”

If the authority requires a utility to move a facility out of high-speed rail property, the authority must pay the reasonable and necessary cost of removal and relocation.

The authority must pay relocation costs when it requires certain utility facilities to move in high-speed rail property.

If the authority requires the same utility relocation more than once within 10 years, it must pay for the second and later relocations.

When the authority must pay utility relocation costs, it is entitled to certain credits.

The authority and utilities may agree on who pays relocation costs, the authority may advance costs, and if it does, the utility must move its facilities promptly to avoid delaying high-speed rail construction.

If the utility and the authority do not reach an agreement, either may sue in court to apportion costs, and the suit must be filed within three years after the utility finishes the removal or relocation.

The authority and certain utilities may contract about who pays for relocating utility facilities for high-speed rail work, and the contract controls how those costs are allocated in covered cases.

A utility is entitled to a permit for reasonable crossings of high-speed rail property when needed to properly provide service to the public.

The authority must exercise reasonable discretion when acting on utility permit applications for longitudinal facilities on high-speed rail property, and it may refuse applications in certain safety, traffic, or aesthetic cases.

When deciding utility permit applications, the authority must consider both the traveling public’s interests on high-speed rail property and consumers’ needs for utility services.

The authority may make reasonable rules, regulations, and permit conditions about where, how, and in what manner utility facilities may be located on or around high-speed rail property.

The Legislature says information used for fiscal decisions about the project should be accurate, current, and impartial, and that decisionmakers should get impartial information on how to proceed.

This section defines key terms used in this division, including “Inspector General,” “Office,” “Project,” “Merced to Bakersfield segment,” and “Personnel issues.”

This section creates the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and sets how the Inspector General is selected and removed.

The Inspector General must submit a proposed budget to the Department of Finance by September 1 each year, and the Department of Finance must notify legislative budget leaders and the Legislative Analyst’s Office by January 10 if it changes that budget. The Inspector General’s annual salary is tied to the salary of the Inspector General of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The Inspector General must select, appoint, and employ officers and employees needed to carry out the office’s functions, and must make sure they have the training and experience needed to do the job effectively.

The Inspector General may start and follow up on audits or reviews of the High-Speed Rail Authority project, and must carry out several oversight duties, but may not investigate personnel issues involving Authority employees.

The Inspector General may investigate complaints, administer oaths, certify official acts, and issue subpoenas. It must keep an employee complainant’s identity confidential unless an exception applies, and retaliation against certain complainants is barred unless the complaint or disclosure was knowingly false or made with willful disregard for the truth.

The Inspector General may access, examine, and copy certain High-Speed Rail Authority records and property, and the Authority must include these access provisions in specified contracts and amendments.

The Inspector General, staff, former staff, and several related people or entities must not disclose protected records, documents, or information unless the law expressly permits it.

The Inspector General must report findings at least annually, maintain a list of findings and progress, and post the list on the office website.

This section defines “city” to include a city and county and an incorporated town, but not an unincorporated town or village.

Certified copies of official documents and orders filed with the commission count as evidence like the originals.