Democrats hide spending for high-speed rail

A Legislature of Crooked Whores

• Democrats work to hide corrupt high speed rail spending from the public view . . . and the moronic Sheeple voters keep re-electing them.

(KCRA News)  -  A measure approved by legislative Democrats this week cuts the reporting requirements for the agency that oversees California's $68 billion high-speed rail program, requiring spending reports to the Legislature every two years instead twice per year, prompting critics to charge that oversight is being scaled back.

The changes were included in bills that passed Monday out of the Senate and Assembly, both of which are controlled by Democrats.

"This budget trailer bill is gutting oversight and accountability requirements that were inserted when this Legislature committed itself to funding high-speed rail back in 2012," said Sen. Andy Vidak, R-Hanford. "This Legislature is supposed to strive for more oversight, not limit it."

Republicans also sought Monday to block $500 million in state funding for high-speed rail that was part of a budget deal reached last year. But Democrats thwarted those efforts.

Lisa-Marie Alley, a spokeswoman for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said the change will make reporting more efficient, and the Legislature will still have access to detailed business plans that the agency is required to compile in even-numbered years. The legislative reports will come in odd-numbered years.

Current rules require the reports from the authority in March and November. But Alley said the March reports are due at the same time the agency is accepting public comments for its business plan, meaning the documents submitted to the Legislature quickly become outdated.

The bill also eliminates the requirement that the agency provide regular updates on staffing.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which has joined lawsuits against the project, criticized the change. "I would say that is a huge step backward in government transparency, and if anything, the high-speed rail project has shown itself to be in desperate need of more transparency, not less," he said.

Coupal said the project will be unable to meet the promises made to voters when they approved $10 billion in financing for it in 2008.

Read More . . . .

California legislators working late at night to raise campaign money from high speed rail supporters.