Existing law, 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. Existing law requires the authority to biennially provide a project update report to the Legislature on the development and implementation of intercity high-speed train service. Existing law requires the project update report to include, among other things, the baseline budget for all project phase costs, by segment or contract, and a comparison of the current and projected work schedule and the baseline schedule contained in the California High-Speed Rail Program Revised 2012 Business Plan.

This bill would additionally require the project update report to include (1) an explanation of the assumptions used for financing methods calculations, (2) a comparison of the current and projected work schedule to projected schedules in previous project update reports, (3) an analysis of potential ancillary revenue sources, and (4) a comparison and benchmarking of cost, scope, and timeline to international high-speed rail projects.