Voter Information Guide (VIG)







PDF versions of the VIG Get Adobe Reader






PLEASE NOTE: After the printing of the Voter Information Guide was
underway, Proposition 1 was removed from the ballot pursuant to statute.
It will be replaced by Proposition 1A on the ballot. A Supplemental Voter Information Guide was printed to provide voters with the text, analyses, arguments, and other information about the measure required by law.



QUICK-REFERENCE GUIDE


PROP
1

HIGH SPEED RAIL BONDS.
LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE AMENDMENT.

SUMMARY                                                        Put on the Ballot by the Legislature


This act provides for the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century. For the purpose of reducing traffic on the state’s highways and roadways, upgrading commuter transportation, improving people’s ability to get safely from city to city, alleviating congestion at airports, reducing air pollution, and providing for California’s growing population, shall the state build a high-speed train system and improve existing passenger rail lines serving the state’s major population centers by creating a rail trust fund that will issue bonds totaling $9.95 billion, paid from existing state funds at an average cost of six hundred and forty-seven million dollars ($647 million) per year over the 30-year life of the bonds, with all expenditures subject to an independent audit? Fiscal Impact: State cost of $19.4 billion over 30 years to pay both principal and interest costs of the bonds. Payments would average about $647 million per year. Unknown operation and maintenance costs, probably over $1 billion annually; at least partially offset by passenger fares.

WHAT YOUR VOTE MEANS


YES   A YES vote on this measure means: The state could sell $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds, to plan and to partially fund the construction of a high-speed rail system in California, and to make capital improvements to state and local rail services.

 

NO   A NO vote on this measure means: The state could not sell $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds for these purposes.

ARGUMENTS


PRO   California's transportation system is broken: skyrocketing gasoline prices, gridlocked freeways, and airports. High-speed trains are the new transportation option that reduces greenhouse gases that cause global warming and dependence on foreign oil. High-speed trains are cheaper than building new highways, airports, and runways to meet population growth without NEW TAXES.

 

CON   This political boondoggle will cost taxpayers $19,200,000,000 in principal and interest. We need that money for schools, healthcare, and public safety. The bureaucrats could waste billions of taxpayer dollars before we see one inch of track. During California’s biggest budget crisis we can’t afford to spend billions on a pipedream.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION


FOR
Robert Pence
Californians For High Speed Trains
– Yes on Proposition 1
455 Capitol Mall, Suite 801
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 551-2513
www.californiahighspeedtrains.com

 

AGAINST
Jon Coupal
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
921 11th Street, Suite 1201
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 444-9950
info@hjta.org
www.hjta.org



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