Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail.

Removed a duplicated word in Section 187026(b): the amended version read 'Public Contract Code Code' while the enrolled version correctly reads 'Public Contract Code'.

Updated bill captions and headers to reflect passage by both the Assembly and Senate on August 26, 2026, and added signature blocks for the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, Secretary of the Senate, Private Secretary of the Governor, and Governor approval line.

Removed the legislative counsel's digest vote/appropriation/fiscal committee summary lines (standard practice when a bill is enrolled).

Reformatted the entire document from the line-numbered amended bill layout to the clean enrolled bill layout, removing page headers and footers.

Section 187035 (public records classification, record retention for 3 years, and restrictions on releasing certain types of records) is entirely removed from the bill.

The bill's opening clause no longer references amending Sections 187034 and 187038 or adding Sections 187035 and 187037, reflecting the removal of those provisions. The bill now only amends Sections 187010, 187020, and 187024 and adds Section 187026 to the Public Utilities Code.

Section 187037 (requiring the Inspector General to publish complete audit reports on its website, notify the Governor and HSR Authority, submit copies to the Legislature, and rules for holding reports confidential with periodic reassessment every 120 days) is entirely removed.

The amendment to Section 187038 (requiring annual reporting to the Legislature and Governor on findings, maintaining a public list of findings and their status, and posting it on the office website) is removed.

Section 187026(b) expands the Inspector General's contracting exemption: in addition to being exempt from Public Contract Code requirements for contracts up to $1,000,000, the Inspector General is now also exempt from all information technology project requirements of the Government Code that require oversight, review, or approval by the Department of General Services or any other state agency.

Section 14, containing legislative findings required by the California Constitution when limiting public access to records, is removed along with the provisions it supported.

The confidentiality mechanism for Inspector General reports changed from a prohibition ('shall not make publicly available') to an authorization ('may hold confidential'), giving the Inspector General discretion rather than imposing a mandatory restriction.

The threshold for withholding a report from public disclosure changed from 'weaknesses that could be exploited by individuals attempting to harm the interests of the state or inappropriately benefit from the project' to 'weaknesses that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed.' The new standard is both more specific (requiring a 'substantial and articulable' risk) and broader in scope (covering 'state operations' not just the project).

A duplicate section number (two sections labeled SEC. 10) in the Assembly version was corrected, renumbering subsequent sections so that Section 187035 is now SEC. 11, Section 187037 is SEC. 12, Section 187038 is SEC. 13, and the findings section is SEC. 14.

Multiple instances of 'and or' were corrected to 'or' in the legislative findings regarding funding priorities for the Merced to Bakersfield segment, and a redundant word ('Those') was removed from Section 187035(b)(1).

New Section 187034 grants the Inspector General authority to access and examine all books, accounts, reports, vouchers, correspondence, files, documents, bank accounts, money, and other property of the High-Speed Rail Authority. It also requires the Authority to include right-of-access provisions in all contracts or amendments executed on or after July 1, 2024 in which project funds will be expended.

New Section 187035(c) clarifies that the restrictions on public disclosure in subdivision (b) only apply to records in the possession or control of the Inspector General and do not alter the responsibility of any other state or local agency to comply with applicable public records disclosure laws.

New Section 187034(c) specifies that providing confidential information to the Inspector General, including information subject to a privilege, does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.

New Section 187037(b)(2)(A) requires the Inspector General to make publicly available any reasonably segregable portion of a confidential report that does not pose the identified risk.

New Section 187037(b)(2)(B) requires the Inspector General to publicly disclose that a report or portion has been held confidential and to provide the rationale for the determination.

Section 187037(b) is substantially restructured. The old version prohibited the Inspector General from making a report publicly available if it would reveal exploitable weaknesses. The new version changes this to a discretionary power to 'hold a report, or a portion of a report, confidential' and adds a higher threshold: the report must pose a 'substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed.'

New Section 187037(b)(3) requires the Inspector General to reassess whether continued confidentiality is warranted within 120 days of making a confidentiality determination, and at least every 120 days thereafter. Upon each reassessment, the Inspector General must either publicly release the report or issue a written determination explaining why continued confidentiality remains necessary.

The office is consistently renamed from 'High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General' to 'Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail' throughout the bill, and the title 'High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail' is shortened to 'Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.'

Section 39719.3 changes 'and' to 'or' in references to Section 39719 and Section 39719.4, indicating these are alternative funding sources rather than both being required simultaneously for the Merced to Bakersfield segment prioritization.