$700K High-Speed Rail Study Bill Passes Senate

A bill that would commission a study on potential commercial and residential economic development opportunities along the California High Speed Rail (CHSR) corridor between Los Angeles and San Francisco was passed by the Senate on Monday despite significant opposition against it.

Senate Bill 545, authored by Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), would require the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, to commission a study on economic opportunities along the corridor of the California high-speed rail project and other high-speed rail projects in California that are planned to directly connect to the California high-speed rail project  and to submit a progress report to the chairpersons of the Senate Committee on Transportation and the Assembly Committee on Transportation for input. The bill would also require the study to be completed and a report on the study’s findings and recommendations to be submitted to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature.

Overall, the cost of SB 545 would be $700,000. As of June 2025, the total cost of the High-Speed Rail project hovers between $128 billion to $135 billion, with another $10.2-$14.2 billion likely to be tacked on soon. If passed, the cost of the study would be added onto the total amount spent on the project.

Senator Cortese has said that SB 545 is needed to help bring economic opportunities to the high-speed rail corridor, with added jobs and businesses  nearby going towards helping improve rail ridership and create new revenue streams.

“The bill sets the foundation for leveraging commercial and residential development along the High Speed Rail corridor to create jobs, attract businesses and generate new revenue streams that will help fund a lot of things,” Cortese said in April.

Possible problems for SB 545 ahead

However, the high cost of the study, as well as it being seen as just another wasteful study for the already bloated CHSR, dampened interest in the bill. While it has continued to pass through committees, total GOP opposition, as well as a few Democrats joining them, have made SB 545 contentious. This was proven again on Monday where it passed 27-9 with 4 abstentions. Following passage in the Senate, GOP lawmakers slammed the bill, saying that it was just even more money going to the CHSR boondoggle.

“The skyrocketing costs and lack of transparency surrounding this mismanaged high-speed rail project further erode the public’s trust,” said Senator Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach) on Tuesday. “California does not have a revenue problem, we have a wasteful spending problem. Californians are sensitive to government waste, and this project stands out as one of the most significant examples of budgetary waste in the state.

“This is yet another expensive, state-funded study of California’s long-troubled high-speed rail project. How many studies does one train need? We are well beyond the original completion date of 2020, and I am concerned that the high-speed rail project TODAY is not the same project that voters passed in 2008.”

SB 545 will next be heard in Assembly Committees, where it is expected to face high opposition once again. For supporters of the bill, the real challenge is likely to come with Governor Gavin Newsom should the bill pass the Assembly. While Newsom is a supporter of CHSR, he has been known in recent years to veto high cost bills that he would have otherwise signed off on, like several high cost reparations bills he vetoed last year. And with the state in the midst of a $12 billion deficit, SB 545 could be seen as too high a cost for a study.

Originally estimated to cost $33 billion in 2008 with a San Francisco to Los Angeles line set to open by 2028, the California high speed rail system now has an estimated partial completion being set somewhere in the 2030’s. As of June 2025, only 171 miles of track are under construction on the project that will now only connect from Bakersfield to Merced.