The California High-Speed Rail Act creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state, with specified powers and duties. The act requires the authority to prepare, publish, adopt, and submit to the Legislature a business plan containing specified elements on a biennial basis and to also provide on a biennial basis a project update report, approved by the Secretary of Transportation as consistent with specified criteria, to the budget committees and the appropriate policy committees of both houses of the Legislature, on the development and implementation of intercity high-speed train service, as provided. The act requires the authority to develop schedules for the delivery of specified tasks relating to the Merced to Bakersfield segment of the high-speed rail project for inclusion in the project update report and the business plan and also requires the authority to include certain other information in the project update report and the business plan relating to the Merced to Bakersfield segment, as provided.

This bill would require the authority, as part of the business plan that is due on or before May 1, 2026, to provide a detailed funding plan for the Merced to Bakersfield segment that includes certain information, including an updated estimate of the funding gap for completing the segment and a strategy for addressing the funding gap.