[h=3]By JIM CARLTON And MAX TAVES[/h]SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The California Senate Friday approved $4.7 billion in funds for the state's high-speed-rail plan despite growing opposition to the project, handing a victory to Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown, a major proponent of the train.
The legislature's approval of the funds was needed to help ensure another $3.2 billion in matching federal funds for the bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco. President Barack Obama's administration committed those federal funds to the project mostly from his economic-stimulus package in 2009.
The $4.7 billion is part of nearly $10 billion in state bonds that California voters in 2008 earmarked for the train. "I'm very happy with the outcome," Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg told reporters afterward. He called the bullet train among "the biggest and the boldest public works projects in California."
The result comes amid growing antirail sentiment in the state, a turnabout from 2008, when 53% of voters passed the rail-bond measure. Issues including rising costs have turned public sentiment against it. Opponents of the measure have cited high costs from a project now estimated to run $68.4 billion, or 52% higher than 2008 estimates of $45 billion.
In a poll Thursday by the San Francisco-based nonpartisan Field Poll, 56% of likely voters said they would oppose the rail project if it were on the ballot again.
The growing opposition in California against the rail project echoes sentiment elsewhere in the nation. Mr. Obama's push to expand rail systems has met resistance over costs and other issues in some places. In February, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he would reject $2.4 billion in federal funding for the state's high-speed rail project, while in Hawaii the leading contender for the Honolulu mayor's race has vowed to pull the plug on that city's $5.2 billion light-rail project if elected in November.
Other projects, including in Illinois and Texas, are pushing ahead. Many Republicans in the GOP-controlled House oppose federal funding of high-speed rail.
The outcome of the California Senate's vote appeared in question earlier Friday, with some Democrats joining Republicans who argue that the rail line is wasteful at a time when California has had to slash funding on everything from parks to social services to help close budget deficits.
But legislative leaders were able to overcome the opposition. "We have to give a little for the greater good and to get something important," Mr. Steinberg told fellow senators during the floor debate.
In the end, the vote on the bill to approve the money hewed closely to party lines, with 21 Democrats saying yes while 12 Republicans and four Democrats voted against the plan. Three Republicans abstained.
"This is really a downer—this passing today," Republican Senator Doug LaMalfa of Richvale, Calif., said in his office after the vote. "The voters have been left holding the bag of deception again."
The Senate's action came a day after the state Assembly passed the bill by an overwhelming margin. The state and federal money is earmarked to help begin construction of the first segment of the 800-mile line, in California's Central Valley.
Supporters of the project say it will provide jobs and help improve transportation infrastructure in the nation's most populous state. "This is an important project for California, and we need to get started now," said a joint statement by the mayors of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and Fresno.
Mr. Brown has heavily championed high-speed rail, even as he has lobbied for a tax measure on the November ballot aimed at raising $6 billion to avert threatened steep cuts to schools.
Yet, the latest Field Poll found 54% of likely voters surveyed favored the tax measure—but of those, roughly a fifth indicated they might instead vote no if the legislature commits more money for rail. Calls to the governor's office weren't immediately returned.
"It's really something that is coming up at the absolute wrong time," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "There have been years of budget cutting with voters being told there is no money. And then there's this multibillion-dollar rail proposal which is out of sync with everything voters have been told."
Write to Jim Carlton at [email protected] and Max Taves at [email protected]
The legislature's approval of the funds was needed to help ensure another $3.2 billion in matching federal funds for the bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco. President Barack Obama's administration committed those federal funds to the project mostly from his economic-stimulus package in 2009.
The $4.7 billion is part of nearly $10 billion in state bonds that California voters in 2008 earmarked for the train. "I'm very happy with the outcome," Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg told reporters afterward. He called the bullet train among "the biggest and the boldest public works projects in California."
The result comes amid growing antirail sentiment in the state, a turnabout from 2008, when 53% of voters passed the rail-bond measure. Issues including rising costs have turned public sentiment against it. Opponents of the measure have cited high costs from a project now estimated to run $68.4 billion, or 52% higher than 2008 estimates of $45 billion.
In a poll Thursday by the San Francisco-based nonpartisan Field Poll, 56% of likely voters said they would oppose the rail project if it were on the ballot again.
The growing opposition in California against the rail project echoes sentiment elsewhere in the nation. Mr. Obama's push to expand rail systems has met resistance over costs and other issues in some places. In February, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he would reject $2.4 billion in federal funding for the state's high-speed rail project, while in Hawaii the leading contender for the Honolulu mayor's race has vowed to pull the plug on that city's $5.2 billion light-rail project if elected in November.
Other projects, including in Illinois and Texas, are pushing ahead. Many Republicans in the GOP-controlled House oppose federal funding of high-speed rail.
The outcome of the California Senate's vote appeared in question earlier Friday, with some Democrats joining Republicans who argue that the rail line is wasteful at a time when California has had to slash funding on everything from parks to social services to help close budget deficits.
But legislative leaders were able to overcome the opposition. "We have to give a little for the greater good and to get something important," Mr. Steinberg told fellow senators during the floor debate.
In the end, the vote on the bill to approve the money hewed closely to party lines, with 21 Democrats saying yes while 12 Republicans and four Democrats voted against the plan. Three Republicans abstained.
"This is really a downer—this passing today," Republican Senator Doug LaMalfa of Richvale, Calif., said in his office after the vote. "The voters have been left holding the bag of deception again."
The Senate's action came a day after the state Assembly passed the bill by an overwhelming margin. The state and federal money is earmarked to help begin construction of the first segment of the 800-mile line, in California's Central Valley.
Supporters of the project say it will provide jobs and help improve transportation infrastructure in the nation's most populous state. "This is an important project for California, and we need to get started now," said a joint statement by the mayors of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and Fresno.
Mr. Brown has heavily championed high-speed rail, even as he has lobbied for a tax measure on the November ballot aimed at raising $6 billion to avert threatened steep cuts to schools.
Yet, the latest Field Poll found 54% of likely voters surveyed favored the tax measure—but of those, roughly a fifth indicated they might instead vote no if the legislature commits more money for rail. Calls to the governor's office weren't immediately returned.
"It's really something that is coming up at the absolute wrong time," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "There have been years of budget cutting with voters being told there is no money. And then there's this multibillion-dollar rail proposal which is out of sync with everything voters have been told."
Write to Jim Carlton at [email protected] and Max Taves at [email protected]