High-speed rail: funding.

(1) Article XVI of the California Constitution requires a general obligation bond act to specify the single object or work to be funded by the bonds, and further requires a bond act to be approved by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and by a majority of the voters. Article XVI authorizes the Legislature, at any time after the approval of a general obligation bond act by the voters, to reduce the amount of the indebtedness authorized by the act to an amount not less than the amount contracted at the time of the reduction. Existing law, the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, approved by the voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, provides for the issuance of $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail and related rail purposes. This bill, subject to voter approval, would amend the bond act to provide that no further bonds shall be sold for high-speed rail and related rail purposes, and would also explicitly authorize the net proceeds received from outstanding bonds issued and sold prior to the effective date of these provisions, upon appropriation, to be redirected from those high-speed rail purposes to retiring the debt incurred from the issuance and sale of those outstanding bonds. The bill would direct the Secretary of State to submit these provisions to the voters on the ballot of the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. The bill would also provide that, until November 5, 2014, bond funds made available pursuant to the bond act shall not be expended for high-speed rail purposes, and no additional bonds shall be issued or sold pursuant to the bond act. (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.