State Rail Plan and High-Speed Rail Authority business plan.

(1) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to prepare a 10-year State Rail Plan biennially, and requires the department to submit the State Rail Plan to the California Transportation Commission for its advice and consent on or before October 1 of each odd-numbered year prior to submitting the State Rail Plan to the Legislature, the Governor, and other entities by the following March. Existing law requires the plan to consist of 2 elements, a passenger rail element and a freight rail element, and sets forth various items that are required to be included in each element. Existing law separately requires the High-Speed Rail Authority to prepare, publish, adopt, and submit to the Legislature, not later than January 1, 2012, and every 2 years thereafter, a business plan, that includes specified elements, and to publish, at least 60 days prior to the publication of the plan, a draft business plan for public review and comment, as specified. This bill would revise the items required to be included in the State Rail Plan and the business plan. The bill would require the State Rail Plan to be submitted to the commission for advice 6 months prior to submitting the final State Rail Plan to the Transportation Agency for approval, and, on or before March 1, 2017, would require the approved State Rail Plan to be submitted to the Legislature, the Governor, and other specified entities. The bill would require the state rail plan to be updated, at a minimum, every 5 years. The bill would change, from January 1 to May 1 of each even-numbered year, the date by which the High-Speed Rail Authority is required to prepare, publish, adopt, and submit the business plan to the Legislature. (2) Existing law requires the department to identify in the rail passenger development plan the 3 most decrepit intercity rail passenger stations in the state used by trains operated by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK) and those rail passenger stations that require upgraded parking facilities, as specified. Existing law requires the department to consider and estimate the cost of specified types of rail service improvements to the San Joaquin Amtrak route, and to report its findings in the rail passenger development plan submitted in 1991 pursuant to the provisions governing the preparation of the State Rail Plan. This bill would repeal these requirements.