SB 1425

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, including the power to acquire rights-of-way through purchase or eminent domain, as specified. This bill would establish a permit program, administered by the authority, for encroachments on the authority’s rights-of-way. The bill would make any person who installs or performs an encroachment within the authority’s right-of-way, without a permit, guilty of a misdemeanor. The bill would also make any person who willfully damages any feature of the high-speed train system or any portion of the authority’s right-of-way guilty of a misdemeanor. The bill would provide for civil penalties for specified categories of encroachment and, unless authorized by law or an encroachment permit, would make it unlawful to manage water flows in certain ways that impact the high-speed train system or the authority’s right-of-way, as specified. The bill would require all moneys, including moneys from permit fees and civil penalties, collected pursuant to its provisions to be deposited into the High-Speed Rail Property Fund. The bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, make the penalty moneys available to the authority for use in the development, improvement, and maintenance of the high-speed rail system, and the other moneys available for administering these provisions. By creating new crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.