AB 1608: Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail.
- Session Year: 2025-2026
- House: Assembly
- Latest Version Date: 2026-08-30
Current Status:
Failed
(2026-09-30: Vetoed by Governor.)
Introduced
In Committee
Awaiting First Chamber Vote
Passed First Chamber
In Committee
Awaiting Second Chamber Vote
Passed Second Chamber
Enacted
Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state. Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and authorizes the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General to initiate an audit or review regarding oversight related to delivery of the high-speed rail project undertaken by the authority and the selection and oversight of contractors related to that project. Existing law authorizes the Inspector General to select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office, as specified.
This bill would rename the office as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and revise the title of the Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, as specified.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office. For a contract up to $1,000,000 in value, the bill would exempt the Inspector General from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code, and 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.
Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state. Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and authorizes the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General to initiate an audit or review regarding oversight related to delivery of the high-speed rail project undertaken by the authority and the selection and oversight of contractors related to that project. Existing law authorizes the Inspector General to select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office, as specified.
This bill would rename the office as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and revise the title of the Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, as specified.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office. For a contract up to $1,000,000 in value, the bill would exempt the Inspector General from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code Code, and 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.
Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state. Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and authorizes the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General to initiate an audit or review regarding oversight related to delivery of the high-speed rail project undertaken by the authority and the selection and oversight of contractors related to that project. Existing law authorizes the Inspector General to select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office, as specified.
This bill would rename the office as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and revise the title of the Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, as specified.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office. For a contract up to $1,000,000 in value, the bill would exempt the Inspector General from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review, or approval by the Department of General Services or any other state agency.
This bill would require the Inspector General, upon completion of an audit or review, to publish a complete report on its internet website, provide notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority, and submit a copy of the report to the Legislature. The bill would authorize the Inspector General to hold that report, or a portion of that report, confidential, as specified, if the Inspector General determines that the report, or portion of the report, would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed. If the Inspector General makes that determination, the bill would require the Inspector General, among other things, to deliver a confidential report to state officials with oversight of the project, as specified.This bill would require all books, papers, records, and correspondence of the office to be public records subject to the California Public Records Act, but would prohibit the Inspector General or the employees of the Inspector General from releasing certain types of records to the public, except under specified circumstances. The bill would prohibit the Inspector General from destroying any papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than 3 years after the corresponding report is published or delivered, as specified.Existing law authorizes the Inspector General to access certain records and property and requires an officer or employee of any agency or entity having those records or property in their possession or under their control to permit access to, and examination and reproduction of those records or property, upon the request of the Inspector General, as specified.This bill would specify that providing confidential information to the Inspector General under these circumstances does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.Existing law requires the Inspector General to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings of any reviews, investigations, or audits, when the High-Speed Rail Authority provides statutorily required documents to the Legislature, and upon request of the Legislature or Governor.This bill would instead require the Inspector General to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings of any reviews, investigations, or audits published pursuant to the above-described provisions at the beginning of each fiscal year and upon request of the Legislature or Governor.Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state. Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and authorizes the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General to initiate an audit or review regarding oversight related to delivery of the high-speed rail project undertaken by the authority and the selection and oversight of contractors related to that project. Existing law authorizes the Inspector General to select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office, as specified.
This bill would rename the office as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and revise the title of the Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, as specified.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office. For a contract up to $1,000,000 in value, the bill would exempt the Inspector General from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review, or approval by the Department of General Services or any other state agency.
This bill would require the Inspector General, upon completion of an audit or review, to publish a complete report on its internet website, provide notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority, and submit a copy of the report to the Legislature. The bill would prohibit authorize the Inspector General from making that report publicly available to hold that report, or a portion of that report, confidential, as specified, if it the Inspector General determines that the report report, or portion of the report, would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses that could be exploited by individuals attempting to harm the interests of the state or inappropriately benefit from the project. would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed. If the Inspector General makes that determination, the bill would require the Inspector General General, among other things, to deliver a confidential report to state officials with oversight of the project, as specified.
This bill would require all books, papers, records, and correspondence of the office to be public records subject to the California Public Records Act, but would prohibit the Inspector General or the employees of the Inspector General from releasing certain types of records to the public, except under specified circumstances. The bill would prohibit the Inspector General from destroying any papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than 3 years after the corresponding report is published or delivered, as specified.
Existing law authorizes the Inspector General to access certain records and property and requires an officer or employee of any agency or entity having those records or property in their possession or under their control to permit access to, and examination and reproduction of those records or property, upon the request of the Inspector General, as specified.
This bill would specify that providing confidential information to the Inspector General under these circumstances does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.
Existing law requires the Inspector General to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings of any reviews, investigations, or audits, when the High-Speed Rail Authority provides statutorily required documents to the Legislature, and upon request of the Legislature or Governor.
This bill would instead require the Inspector General to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings of any reviews, investigations, or audits published pursuant to the above-described provisions at the beginning of each fiscal year and upon request of the Legislature or Governor.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state. Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and authorizes the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General to initiate an audit or review regarding oversight related to delivery of the high-speed rail project undertaken by the authority and the selection and oversight of contractors related to that project. Existing law authorizes the Inspector General to select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office, as specified.
This bill would rename the office as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and revise the title of the Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, as specified.
This bill would authorize the Inspector General to contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office. For a contract up to $1,000,000 in value, the bill would exempt the Inspector General from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review, or approval by the Department of General Services or any other state agency.
This bill would require the Inspector General, upon completion of an audit or review, to publish a complete report on its internet website, provide notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority, and submit a copy of the report to the Legislature. The bill would prohibit the Inspector General from making that report publicly available if it determines that the report would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses that could be exploited by individuals attempting to harm the interests of the state or inappropriately benefit from the project. If the Inspector General makes that determination, the bill would require the Inspector General to deliver a confidential report to state officials with oversight of the project, as specified.
This bill would require all books, papers, records, and correspondence of the office to be public records subject to the California Public Records Act, but would prohibit the Inspector General or the employees of the Inspector General from releasing certain types of records to the public, except under specified circumstances. The bill would prohibit the Inspector General from destroying any papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than 3 years after the corresponding report is published or delivered, as specified.
Existing law requires the Inspector General to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings of any reviews, investigations, or audits, when the High-Speed Rail Authority provides statutorily required documents to the Legislature, and upon request of the Legislature or Governor.
This bill would instead require the Inspector General to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings of any reviews, investigations, or audits published pursuant to the above-described provisions at the beginning of each fiscal year and upon request of the Legislature or Governor.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Timely, independent oversight of the high-speed rail project is critical to both the success of the project and to ensuring that public funds used on the project are spent efficiently and effectively.
(2)The Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail was created to fulfill this role.
(3)It is necessary for the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail to be independent in its design and operation so that delays in acquisition, or increased costs, related to personnel, goods, and services do not impair its ability to fulfill its mission.
(b)For the reasons stated in subdivision (a), it is the intent of the Legislature that the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail has the ability to operate independently of other state agencies when publishing reports, making hiring decisions, and entering into contracts with a value of up to $1,000,000.
SEC. 2.Section 39719.3 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:39719.3.(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)Fully funded means the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured funding to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment within the timelines identified in the most recent business plan prepared pursuant to Section 185033 of the Public Utilities Code or project update report prepared pursuant to Section 185033.5 of the Public Utilities Code and the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail has confirmed that the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured that funding.
(2)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(b)Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719 or paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4, beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, it is the intent of the Legislature that the High-Speed Rail Authority prioritize use of the funds provided pursuant to Section 39719 or Section 39719.4 to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment.
(c)Beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall not enter into new funding commitments with funds provided pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719 or paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4 for activities outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment, except for the following purposes:
(1)Completion of environmental clearance activities and planning activities required by federal grant agreements or other existing agreements.
(2)State operations activities related to construction management and project development and enterprisewide capital expenditures.
(3)(A)Additional activities, not to cumulatively exceed five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000), that maximize the efficiency of delivering the project, excluding paragraphs (1) and (2).
(B)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide advance notification of work described in subparagraph (A) to the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail (OIG) and the chairs of the relevant committees of both houses of the Legislature. The OIG shall conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed work outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment within 60 days of notification and make a finding as to whether or not expenditure of funds for the proposed work will result in a delay in the completion of the Merced to Bakersfield segment. After that time, the OIG shall provide its analysis to chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget before contracts for projects outside of the Merced to Bakersfield segment are considered by the High-Speed Rail Authority for approval.
(C)Before expenditure of funds pursuant to this paragraph, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide notification of grant applications to the chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget. Approval of the grant application by the Department of Finance may be authorized no sooner than 30 days after notification in writing to the chairpersons of the committees in each house of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees in each house of the Legislature that consider the State Budget.
(d)(1)This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2030, or when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded, whichever is sooner, and shall be repealed on January 1 of the following year.
(2)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall inform the Legislature when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 3.The heading of Division 19.7 (commencing with Section 187000) of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:19.7.Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed RailSEC. 4.Section 187010 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187010.Unless the context requires otherwise, for purposes of this division, the following definitions apply:
(a)Inspector General means the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail appointed pursuant to Section 187020.
(b)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(c)Office means the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail established pursuant to Section 187020.
(d)Personnel issues means matters specific to the employment relationship between the High-Speed Rail Authority and its employees, including, but not limited to, hiring and promotional decisions, performance reviews, progressive discipline, adverse actions, grievances, merit issue complaints, workplace harassment, discrimination, or possible wage or supply theft having an immaterial effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. For purposes of this division, personnel issues does not mean fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement by the High-Speed Rail Authority or its employees having a material effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project.
(e)Project means the high-speed rail project undertaken by the High-Speed Rail Authority pursuant to Division 19 (commencing with Section 185000) of this code and Chapter 20 (commencing with Section 2704) and Chapter 20.5 (commencing with Section 2704.75) of Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code.
SEC. 5.The heading of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 187020) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:2.Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed RailSEC. 6.Section 187020 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187020.(a)(1)There is hereby created the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail.
(2)The Governor shall appoint the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail to a four-year term from a list of three qualified individuals nominated by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall select the three qualified individuals from a pool of candidates after conducting a comprehensive search for qualified individuals. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall provide at least 120 days notice that it is seeking applicants for nomination by providing notice in the Journals of the Senate and the Assembly and by advertising in appropriate newspapers and with nationally acknowledged professional journals and associations. Names for consideration by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee may be submitted by members of the Legislature, professional organizations, individuals, and other entities. The Inspector General shall be chosen without reference to party affiliation and solely on the ground of fitness to perform the duties of the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
(3)The Legislature and the Governor may provide suggested qualifications to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to consider when making its nominations.
(b)The office shall not be a subdivision of any other governmental entity.
(c)The Inspector General may not be removed from office by the Governor during that term, except for good cause.
SEC. 7.Section 187024 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187024.(a)Subject to applicable law, the Inspector General shall select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office. In making these selections, the Inspector General shall ensure that those officers and employees have the requisite training and experience to enable the Inspector General to carry out their duties effectively.
(b)To recruit and retain qualified officers and employees with the relatively higher level of education, expertise, knowledge, and ability necessary to perform time-sensitive, technically complex reviews of the project, the Inspector General may, notwithstanding any other law, adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, so long as the Inspector General determines that any individual to be hired meets or exceeds applicable eligibility requirements and minimum qualifications.
SEC. 8.Section 187026 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187026.(a)The Inspector General may contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office.
(b)For a contract up to one million dollars ($1,000,000) in value, the Inspector General shall be exempt from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code, and 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.
SEC. 9.The heading of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 187030) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:3.Responsibilities of the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Timely, independent oversight of the high-speed rail project is critical to both the success of the project and to ensuring that public funds used on the project are spent efficiently and effectively.
(2)The Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail was created to fulfill this role.
(3)It is necessary for the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail to be independent in its design and operation so that delays in acquisition, or increased costs, related to personnel, goods, and services do not impair its ability to fulfill its mission.
(b)For the reasons stated in subdivision (a), it is the intent of the Legislature that the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail has the ability to operate independently of other state agencies when publishing reports, making hiring decisions, and entering into contracts with a value of up to $1,000,000.
SEC. 2.Section 39719.3 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:39719.3.(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)Fully funded means the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured funding to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment within the timelines identified in the most recent business plan prepared pursuant to Section 185033 of the Public Utilities Code or project update report prepared pursuant to Section 185033.5 of the Public Utilities Code and the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail has confirmed that the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured that funding.
(2)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(b)Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719 or paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4, beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, it is the intent of the Legislature that the High-Speed Rail Authority prioritize use of the funds provided pursuant to Section 39719 or Section 39719.4 to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment.
(c)Beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall not enter into new funding commitments with funds provided pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719 or paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4 for activities outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment, except for the following purposes:
(1)Completion of environmental clearance activities and planning activities required by federal grant agreements or other existing agreements.
(2)State operations activities related to construction management and project development and enterprisewide capital expenditures.
(3)(A)Additional activities, not to cumulatively exceed five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000), that maximize the efficiency of delivering the project, excluding paragraphs (1) and (2).
(B)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide advance notification of work described in subparagraph (A) to the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail (OIG) and the chairs of the relevant committees of both houses of the Legislature. The OIG shall conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed work outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment within 60 days of notification and make a finding as to whether or not expenditure of funds for the proposed work will result in a delay in the completion of the Merced to Bakersfield segment. After that time, the OIG shall provide its analysis to chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget before contracts for projects outside of the Merced to Bakersfield segment are considered by the High-Speed Rail Authority for approval.
(C)Before expenditure of funds pursuant to this paragraph, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide notification of grant applications to the chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget. Approval of the grant application by the Department of Finance may be authorized no sooner than 30 days after notification in writing to the chairpersons of the committees in each house of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees in each house of the Legislature that consider the State Budget.
(d)(1)This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2030, or when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded, whichever is sooner, and shall be repealed on January 1 of the following year.
(2)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall inform the Legislature when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 3.The heading of Division 19.7 (commencing with Section 187000) of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:19.7.Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed RailSEC. 4.Section 187010 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187010.Unless the context requires otherwise, for purposes of this division, the following definitions apply:
(a)Inspector General means the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail appointed pursuant to Section 187020.
(b)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(c)Office means the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail established pursuant to Section 187020.
(d)Personnel issues means matters specific to the employment relationship between the High-Speed Rail Authority and its employees, including, but not limited to, hiring and promotional decisions, performance reviews, progressive discipline, adverse actions, grievances, merit issue complaints, workplace harassment, discrimination, or possible wage or supply theft having an immaterial effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. For purposes of this division, personnel issues does not mean fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement by the High-Speed Rail Authority or its employees having a material effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project.
(e)Project means the high-speed rail project undertaken by the High-Speed Rail Authority pursuant to Division 19 (commencing with Section 185000) of this code and Chapter 20 (commencing with Section 2704) and Chapter 20.5 (commencing with Section 2704.75) of Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code.
SEC. 5.The heading of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 187020) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:2.Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed RailSEC. 6.Section 187020 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187020.(a)(1)There is hereby created the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail.
(2)The Governor shall appoint the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail to a four-year term from a list of three qualified individuals nominated by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall select the three qualified individuals from a pool of candidates after conducting a comprehensive search for qualified individuals. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall provide at least 120 days notice that it is seeking applicants for nomination by providing notice in the Journals of the Senate and the Assembly and by advertising in appropriate newspapers and with nationally acknowledged professional journals and associations. Names for consideration by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee may be submitted by members of the Legislature, professional organizations, individuals, and other entities. The Inspector General shall be chosen without reference to party affiliation and solely on the ground of fitness to perform the duties of the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
(3)The Legislature and the Governor may provide suggested qualifications to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to consider when making its nominations.
(b)The office shall not be a subdivision of any other governmental entity.
(c)The Inspector General may not be removed from office by the Governor during that term, except for good cause.
SEC. 7.Section 187024 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187024.(a)Subject to applicable law, the Inspector General shall select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office. In making these selections, the Inspector General shall ensure that those officers and employees have the requisite training and experience to enable the Inspector General to carry out their duties effectively.
(b)To recruit and retain qualified officers and employees with the relatively higher level of education, expertise, knowledge, and ability necessary to perform time-sensitive, technically complex reviews of the project, the Inspector General may, notwithstanding any other law, adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, so long as the Inspector General determines that any individual to be hired meets or exceeds applicable eligibility requirements and minimum qualifications.
SEC. 8.Section 187026 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187026.(a)The Inspector General may contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office.
(b)For a contract up to one million dollars ($1,000,000) in value, the Inspector General shall be exempt from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code Code, and 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.
SEC. 9.The heading of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 187030) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:3.Responsibilities of the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Timely, independent oversight of the high-speed rail project is critical to both the success of the project and to ensuring that public funds used on the project are spent efficiently and effectively.
(2)The Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail was created to fulfill this role.
(3)It is necessary for the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail to be independent in its design and operation so that delays in acquisition, or increased costs, related to personnel, goods, and services do not impair its ability to fulfill its mission.
(b)For the reasons stated in subdivision (a), it is the intent of the Legislature that the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail has the ability to operate independently of other state agencies when publishing reports, making hiring decisions, and entering into contracts with a value of up to $1,000,000.
SEC. 2.Section 39719.3 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:39719.3.(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)Fully funded means the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured funding to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment within the timelines identified in the most recent business plan prepared pursuant to Section 185033 of the Public Utilities Code or project update report prepared pursuant to Section 185033.5 of the Public Utilities Code and the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail has confirmed that the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured that funding.
(2)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(b)Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719 or paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4, beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, it is the intent of the Legislature that the High-Speed Rail Authority prioritize use of the funds provided pursuant to Section 39719 or Section 39719.4 to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment.
(c)Beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall not enter into new funding commitments with funds provided pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719 or paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4 for activities outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment, except for the following purposes:
(1)Completion of environmental clearance activities and planning activities required by federal grant agreements or other existing agreements.
(2)State operations activities related to construction management and project development and enterprisewide capital expenditures.
(3)(A)Additional activities, not to cumulatively exceed five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000), that maximize the efficiency of delivering the project, excluding paragraphs (1) and (2).
(B)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide advance notification of work described in subparagraph (A) to the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail (OIG) and the chairs of the relevant committees of both houses of the Legislature. The OIG shall conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed work outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment within 60 days of notification and make a finding as to whether or not expenditure of funds for the proposed work will result in a delay in the completion of the Merced to Bakersfield segment. After that time, the OIG shall provide its analysis to chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget before contracts for projects outside of the Merced to Bakersfield segment are considered by the High-Speed Rail Authority for approval.
(C)Before expenditure of funds pursuant to this paragraph, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide notification of grant applications to the chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget. Approval of the grant application by the Department of Finance may be authorized no sooner than 30 days after notification in writing to the chairpersons of the committees in each house of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees in each house of the Legislature that consider the State Budget.
(d)(1)This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2030, or when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded, whichever is sooner, and shall be repealed on January 1 of the following year.
(2)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall inform the Legislature when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 3.The heading of Division 19.7 (commencing with Section 187000) of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:19.7.Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed RailSEC. 4.Section 187010 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187010.Unless the context requires otherwise, for purposes of this division, the following definitions apply:
(a)Inspector General means the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail appointed pursuant to Section 187020.
(b)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(c)Office means the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail established pursuant to Section 187020.
(d)Personnel issues means matters specific to the employment relationship between the High-Speed Rail Authority and its employees, including, but not limited to, hiring and promotional decisions, performance reviews, progressive discipline, adverse actions, grievances, merit issue complaints, workplace harassment, discrimination, or possible wage or supply theft having an immaterial effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. For purposes of this division, personnel issues does not mean fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement by the High-Speed Rail Authority or its employees having a material effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project.
(e)Project means the high-speed rail project undertaken by the High-Speed Rail Authority pursuant to Division 19 (commencing with Section 185000) of this code and Chapter 20 (commencing with Section 2704) and Chapter 20.5 (commencing with Section 2704.75) of Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code.
SEC. 5.The heading of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 187020) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:2.Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed RailSEC. 6.Section 187020 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187020.(a)(1)There is hereby created the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail.
(2)The Governor shall appoint the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail to a four-year term from a list of three qualified individuals nominated by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall select the three qualified individuals from a pool of candidates after conducting a comprehensive search for qualified individuals. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall provide at least 120 days notice that it is seeking applicants for nomination by providing notice in the Journals of the Senate and the Assembly and by advertising in appropriate newspapers and with nationally acknowledged professional journals and associations. Names for consideration by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee may be submitted by members of the Legislature, professional organizations, individuals, and other entities. The Inspector General shall be chosen without reference to party affiliation and solely on the ground of fitness to perform the duties of the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
(3)The Legislature and the Governor may provide suggested qualifications to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to consider when making its nominations.
(b)The office shall not be a subdivision of any other governmental entity.
(c)The Inspector General may not be removed from office by the Governor during that term, except for good cause.
SEC. 7.Section 187024 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187024.(a)Subject to applicable law, the Inspector General shall select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office. In making these selections, the Inspector General shall ensure that those officers and employees have the requisite training and experience to enable the Inspector General to carry out their duties effectively.
(b)To recruit and retain qualified officers and employees with the relatively higher level of education, expertise, knowledge, and ability necessary to perform time-sensitive, technically complex reviews of the project, the Inspector General may, notwithstanding any other law, adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, so long as the Inspector General determines that any individual to be hired meets or exceeds applicable eligibility requirements and minimum qualifications.
SEC. 8.Section 187026 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187026.(a)The Inspector General may contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office.
(b)For a contract up to one million dollars ($1,000,000) in value, the Inspector General shall be exempt from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review, or approval by the Department of General Services or any other state agency.
SEC. 9.The heading of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 187030) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:3.Responsibilities of the Inspector General of the High-Speed RailSEC. 10.Section 187034 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187034.(a)Notwithstanding any other law, the Inspector General during regular business hours or at any other time determined necessary by the Inspector General shall have access to and authority to examine and reproduce any and all books, accounts, reports, vouchers, correspondence, files, documents, and other records, and to examine the bank accounts, money, or other property of the High-Speed Rail Authority in connection with duties authorized by this division. Any officer or employee of any agency or entity having these records or property in their possession or under their control shall permit access to, and examination and reproduction thereof consistent with the provisions of this division, upon the request of the Inspector General or the Inspector Generals authorized representative.(b)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall ensure that the right-of-access provisions described in subdivision (a) are included in all of its contracts or amendments executed on or after July 1, 2024, in which project funds will be expended.(c)Providing confidential information to the Inspector General pursuant to this section, including, but not limited to, confidential information that is subject to a privilege, shall not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.SEC. 11.Section 187035 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187035.(a)The Inspector General shall not destroy any papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than three years after the corresponding report is published or delivered pursuant to Section 187037.(b)All books, papers, records, and correspondence of the office pertaining to its work are public records subject to Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code and shall be filed at any of the regularly maintained offices of the Inspector General, except that none of the following items or papers of which these items are a part shall be released to the public by the Inspector General or the employees of the Inspector General:(1)Personal papers and correspondence of any person providing assistance to the Inspector General for purposes of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 187032 when that person has requested in writing that their papers and correspondence be kept private and confidential. Consistent with subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 187032, those papers and correspondence shall become public records if the written request is withdrawn, or upon the order of the Inspector General.(2)Papers, correspondence, memoranda, or any substantive information pertaining to any audit or review not completed.(3)Papers, correspondence, or memoranda pertaining to any audit or review that has been completed, which papers, correspondence, or memoranda are not used in support of any report resulting from the audit or review.(4)Any survey of public employees or contracted staff that the Inspector General determines should be kept confidential to deter retaliation if the employees or staff respond to the survey.(5)Any record of an investigation conducted under this division, including, but not limited to, all investigative files and work product, except that the Inspector General, whenever the Inspector General determines it necessary to serve the interests of the state, may issue a public report of the results of an investigation that has substantiated a violation of laws, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety. Except as provided in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 187032, the Inspector General may also release any findings or evidence supporting any findings resulting from an investigation conducted pursuant to this division whenever the Inspector General determines it necessary to serve the interests of the state.(c)The restrictions on public disclosure described in subdivision (b) shall only apply to records in the possession or control of the Inspector General, and shall not alter the responsibility of any other state or local agency to comply with all applicable laws regarding the disclosure of public records.SEC. 12.Section 187037 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187037.(a)Except as provided in subdivision (b), upon completion of an audit or review conducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 187030, the Inspector General shall do all of the following:(1)Publish a complete report on its internet website.(2)Provide, in compliance with policies developed by the Inspector General, notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority.(3)Submit a copy of the published report to the Legislature in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.(b)(1)The Inspector General may hold a report, or a portion of a report, confidential for the period of time described in paragraph (3) if the Inspector General determines that the report, or a portion of the report, would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses, including those involving information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation, that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed.(2)If the Inspector General makes a determination pursuant to paragraph (1), the Inspector General shall do all of the following:(A)Make publicly available any reasonably segregable portion of the report that does not pose the substantial and articulable risk identified pursuant to paragraph (1).(B)Publicly disclose that a report, or a portion of the report, has been held confidential and provide the rationale for the determination.(C)Deliver a confidential report, or a confidential portion of the report, that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project, which may include the executive director and board chair of the High-Speed Rail Authority, the chairs of the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation, or the Governor. The report, or portion of the report, delivered pursuant to this subparagraph shall remain confidential only so long as the Inspector General determines that public disclosure would continue to pose the substantial and articulable risk identified pursuant to paragraph (1).(3)Within 120 days after making a determination pursuant to paragraph (1), and at least every 120 days thereafter while a report, or a portion of a report, is held confidential, the Inspector General shall reassess whether continued confidentiality is warranted. Upon each reassessment, the Inspector General shall either publicly release the report, or the portion of the report, that is held confidential or issue a written determination explaining why continued confidentiality remains necessary.SEC. 13.Section 187038 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187038.(a)Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the Inspector General shall report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings, positive and negative, of any reviews, investigations, or audits published pursuant to Section 187037 at the beginning of each fiscal year and upon request of the Legislature or Governor. The summary shall be posted on the offices internet website and otherwise made available to the public upon its release to the Legislature and the Governor. The summary shall include, but not be limited to, significant problems discovered by the office, and whether previous recommendations the office has made have been implemented.(b)Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the Inspector General shall report annually to the Legislature and the Governor on findings related to the High-Speed Rail Authoritys planning and delivery of the project. This report shall include updates on the High-Speed Rail Authoritys efforts to remedy any identified findings, and whether any identified findings have been addressed.(c)The Inspector General shall maintain a list of identified findings, and the status of the High-Speed Rail Authoritys efforts to address them, and shall post that list on the offices internet website.(d)Reports to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.SEC. 14.The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 11 and 12 of this act, which add Sections 187035 and 187037 to the Public Utilities Code, impose a limitation on the publics right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:Keeping certain records and reports of the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail confidential is necessary to enable the Inspector General to fully conduct audits and investigations and may be necessary, under certain circumstances, to ensure the security of the high-speed rail project. Under these circumstances, keeping these records and reports confidential outweighs the interest in public disclosure of the information contained in these records and reports.(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Timely, independent oversight of the high-speed rail project is critical to both the success of the project and to ensuring that public funds used on the project are spent efficiently and effectively.
(2)The Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail was created to fulfill this role.
(3)It is necessary for the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail to be independent in its design and operation so that delays in acquisition, or increased costs, related to personnel, goods, and services do not impair its ability to fulfill its mission.
(b)For the reasons stated in subdivision (a), it is the intent of the Legislature that the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail has the ability to operate independently of other state agencies when publishing reports, making hiring decisions, and entering into contracts with a value of up to $1,000,000.
SEC. 2.Section 39719.3 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:39719.3.(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)Fully funded means the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured funding to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment within the timelines identified in the most recent business plan prepared pursuant to Section 185033 of the Public Utilities Code or project update report prepared pursuant to Section 185033.5 of the Public Utilities Code and the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail has confirmed that the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured that funding.
(2)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(b)Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719 and or paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4, beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, it is the intent of the Legislature that the High-Speed Rail Authority prioritize use of the funds provided pursuant to Section 39719 and or Section 39719.4 to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment.
(c)Beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall not enter into new funding commitments with funds provided pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719 and or paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4 for activities outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment, except for the following purposes:
(1)Completion of environmental clearance activities and planning activities required by federal grant agreements or other existing agreements.
(2)State operations activities related to construction management and project development and enterprisewide capital expenditures.
(3)(A)Additional activities, not to cumulatively exceed five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000), that maximize the efficiency of delivering the project, excluding paragraphs (1) and (2).
(B)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide advance notification of work described in subparagraph (A) to the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail (OIG) and the chairs of the relevant committees of both houses of the Legislature. The OIG shall conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed work outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment within 60 days of notification and make a finding as to whether or not expenditure of funds for the proposed work will result in a delay in the completion of the Merced to Bakersfield segment. After that time, the OIG shall provide its analysis to chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget before contracts for projects outside of the Merced to Bakersfield segment are considered by the High-Speed Rail Authority for approval.
(C)Before expenditure of funds pursuant to this paragraph, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide notification of grant applications to the chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget. Approval of the grant application by the Department of Finance may be authorized no sooner than 30 days after notification in writing to the chairpersons of the committees in each house of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees in each house of the Legislature that consider the State Budget.
(d)(1)This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2030, or when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded, whichever is sooner, and shall be repealed on January 1 of the following year.
(2)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall inform the Legislature when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 3.The heading of Division 19.7 (commencing with Section 187000) of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:19.7.Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed RailSEC. 4.Section 187010 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187010.Unless the context requires otherwise, for purposes of this division, the following definitions apply:
(a)Inspector General means the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail appointed pursuant to Section 187020.
(b)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(c)Office means the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail established pursuant to Section 187020.
(d)Personnel issues means matters specific to the employment relationship between the High-Speed Rail Authority and its employees, including, but not limited to, hiring and promotional decisions, performance reviews, progressive discipline, adverse actions, grievances, merit issue complaints, workplace harassment, discrimination, or possible wage or supply theft having an immaterial effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. For purposes of this division, personnel issues does not mean fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement by the High-Speed Rail Authority or its employees having a material effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project.
(e)Project means the high-speed rail project undertaken by the High-Speed Rail Authority pursuant to Division 19 (commencing with Section 185000) of this code and Chapter 20 (commencing with Section 2704) and Chapter 20.5 (commencing with Section 2704.75) of Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code.
SEC. 5.The heading of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 187020) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:2.Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed RailSEC. 6.Section 187020 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187020.(a)(1)There is hereby created the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail.
(2)The Governor shall appoint the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail to a four-year term from a list of three qualified individuals nominated by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall select the three qualified individuals from a pool of candidates after conducting a comprehensive search for qualified individuals. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall provide at least 120 days notice that it is seeking applicants for nomination by providing notice in the Journals of the Senate and the Assembly and by advertising in appropriate newspapers and with nationally acknowledged professional journals and associations. Names for consideration by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee may be submitted by members of the Legislature, professional organizations, individuals, and other entities. The Inspector General shall be chosen without reference to party affiliation and solely on the ground of fitness to perform the duties of the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
(3)The Legislature and the Governor may provide suggested qualifications to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to consider when making its nominations.
(b)The office shall not be a subdivision of any other governmental entity.
(c)The Inspector General may not be removed from office by the Governor during that term, except for good cause.
SEC. 7.Section 187024 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187024.(a)Subject to applicable law, the Inspector General shall select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office. In making these selections, the Inspector General shall ensure that those officers and employees have the requisite training and experience to enable the Inspector General to carry out their duties effectively.
(b)To recruit and retain qualified officers and employees with the relatively higher level of education, expertise, knowledge, and ability necessary to perform time-sensitive, technically complex reviews of the project, the Inspector General may, notwithstanding any other law, adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, so long as the Inspector General determines that any individual to be hired meets or exceeds applicable eligibility requirements and minimum qualifications.
SEC. 8.Section 187026 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187026.(a)The Inspector General may contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office.
(b)For a contract up to one million dollars ($1,000,000) in value, the Inspector General shall be exempt from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review, or approval by the Department of General Services or any other state agency.
SEC. 9.The heading of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 187030) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:3.Responsibilities of the Inspector General of the High-Speed RailSEC. 10.Section 187034 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187034.(a)Notwithstanding any other law, the Inspector General during regular business hours or at any other time determined necessary by the Inspector General shall have access to and authority to examine and reproduce any and all books, accounts, reports, vouchers, correspondence, files, documents, and other records, and to examine the bank accounts, money, or other property of the High-Speed Rail Authority in connection with duties authorized by this division. Any officer or employee of any agency or entity having these records or property in their possession or under their control shall permit access to, and examination and reproduction thereof consistent with the provisions of this division, upon the request of the Inspector General or the Inspector Generals authorized representative.
(b)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall ensure that the right-of-access provisions described in subdivision (a) are included in all of its contracts or amendments executed on or after July 1, 2024, in which project funds will be expended.
(c)Providing confidential information to the Inspector General pursuant to this section, including, but not limited to, confidential information that is subject to a privilege, shall not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.
SEC. 10.SEC. 11.Section 187035 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187035.(a)The Inspector General shall not destroy any papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than three years after the corresponding report is published or delivered pursuant to Section 187037.
(b)All books, papers, records, and correspondence of the office pertaining to its work are public records subject to Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code and shall be filed at any of the regularly maintained offices of the Inspector General, except that none of the following items or papers of which these items are a part shall be released to the public by the Inspector General or the employees of the Inspector General:
(1)Personal papers and correspondence of any person providing assistance to the Inspector General for purposes of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 187032 when that person has requested in writing that their papers and correspondence be kept private and confidential. Those Consistent with subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 187032, those papers and correspondence shall become public records if the written request is withdrawn, or upon the order of the Inspector General.
(2)Papers, correspondence, memoranda, or any substantive information pertaining to any audit or review not completed.
(3)Papers, correspondence, or memoranda pertaining to any audit or review that has been completed, which papers, correspondence, or memoranda are not used in support of any report resulting from the audit or review.
(4)Any survey of public employees or contracted staff that the Inspector General determines should be kept confidential to deter retaliation if the employees or staff respond to the survey.
(5)Any papers, correspondence, memoranda, electronic communications, or other documents pertaining to internal discussions between the Inspector General and the Inspector Generals staff, or between staff members of the Inspector General, or any personal notes of the Inspector General or the Inspector Generals staff.(6)(5)Any record of an investigation conducted under this division, including, but not limited to, all investigative files and work product, except that the Inspector General, whenever the Inspector General determines it necessary to serve the interests of the state, may issue a public report of the results of an investigation that has substantiated a violation of laws, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety. Except as provided in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 187032, the Inspector General may also release any findings or evidence supporting any findings resulting from an investigation conducted pursuant to this division whenever the Inspector General determines it necessary to serve the interests of the state.
(c)The restrictions on public disclosure described in subdivision (b) shall only apply to records in the possession or control of the Inspector General, and shall not alter the responsibility of any other state or local agency to comply with all applicable laws regarding the disclosure of public records.
SEC. 11.SEC. 12.Section 187037 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187037.(a)Except as provided in subdivision (b), upon completion of an audit or review conducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 187030, the Inspector General shall do all of the following:
(1)Publish a complete report on its internet website.
(2)Provide, in compliance with policies developed by the Inspector General, notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority.
(3)Submit a copy of the published report to the Legislature in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(b)(1)The Inspector General shall not make a report publicly available pursuant to subdivision (a) may hold a report, or a portion of a report, confidential for the period of time described in paragraph (3) if the Inspector General determines that the report, or a portion of the report, would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses, including those involving information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation, that could be exploited by individuals attempting to harm the interests of the state or inappropriately benefit from the project. would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed.
(2)If the Inspector General makes a determination pursuant to paragraph (1), the Inspector General shall deliver do all of the following:
(A)Make publicly available any reasonably segregable portion of the report that does not pose the substantial and articulable risk identified pursuant to paragraph (1).
(B)Publicly disclose that a report, or a portion of the report, has been held confidential and provide the rationale for the determination.
(C)Deliver a confidential report, or a confidential portion of the completed report, that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project, which may include the executive director and board chair of the High-Speed Rail Authority, the chairs of the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation, or the Governor. The report, or portion of the report, delivered pursuant to this subparagraph shall remain confidential only so long as the Inspector General determines that public disclosure would continue to pose the substantial and articulable risk identified pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3)Within 120 days after making a determination pursuant to paragraph (1), and at least every 120 days thereafter while a report, or a portion of a report, is held confidential, the Inspector General shall reassess whether continued confidentiality is warranted. Upon each reassessment, the Inspector General shall either publicly release the report, or the portion of the report, that is held confidential or issue a written determination explaining why continued confidentiality remains necessary.
SEC. 12.SEC. 13.Section 187038 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187038.(a)Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the Inspector General shall report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings, positive and negative, of any reviews, investigations, or audits published pursuant to Section 187037 at the beginning of each fiscal year and upon request of the Legislature or Governor. The summary shall be posted on the offices internet website and otherwise made available to the public upon its release to the Legislature and the Governor. The summary shall include, but not be limited to, significant problems discovered by the office, and whether previous recommendations the office has made have been implemented.
(b)Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the Inspector General shall report annually to the Legislature and the Governor on findings related to the High-Speed Rail Authoritys planning and delivery of the project. This report shall include updates on the High-Speed Rail Authoritys efforts to remedy any identified findings, and whether any identified findings have been addressed.
(c)The Inspector General shall maintain a list of identified findings, and the status of the High-Speed Rail Authoritys efforts to address them, and shall post that list on the offices internet website.
(d)Reports to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 13.SEC. 14.The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 10 and 11 and 12 of this act, which add Sections 187035 and 187037 to the Public Utilities Code, impose a limitation on the publics right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
Keeping certain records and reports of the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail confidential is necessary to enable the Inspector General to fully conduct audits and investigations and may be necessary, under certain circumstances, to ensure the security of the high-speed rail project. Under these circumstances, keeping these records and reports confidential outweighs the interest in public disclosure of the information contained in these records and reports.
(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Timely, independent oversight of the high-speed rail project is critical to both the success of the project and to ensuring that public funds used on the project are spent efficiently and effectively.
(2)The Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail was created to fulfill this role.
(3)It is necessary for the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail to be independent in its design and operation so that delays in acquisition, or increased costs, related to personnel, goods, and services do not impair its ability to fulfill its mission.
(b)For the reasons stated in subdivision (a), it is the intent of the Legislature that the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail has the ability to operate independently of other state agencies when publishing reports, making hiring decisions, and entering into contracts with a value of up to $1,000,000.
SEC. 2.Section 39719.3 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:39719.3.(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)Fully funded means the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured funding to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment within the timelines identified in the most recent business plan prepared pursuant to Section 185033 of the Public Utilities Code or project update report prepared pursuant to Section 185033.5 of the Public Utilities Code and the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General General, High-Speed Rail has confirmed that the High-Speed Rail Authority has secured that funding.
(2)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(b)Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719, 39719 and paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4, beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, it is the intent of the Legislature that the High-Speed Rail Authority prioritize use of the funds provided pursuant to Section 39719 and Section 39719.4 to complete the Merced to Bakersfield segment.
(c)Beginning with the 202223 fiscal year, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall not enter into new funding commitments with funds provided pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719 and paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 39719.4 for activities outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment, except for the following purposes:
(1)Completion of environmental clearance activities and planning activities required by federal grant agreements or other existing agreements.
(2)State operations activities related to construction management and project development and enterprisewide capital expenditures.
(3)(A)Additional activities, not to cumulatively exceed five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000), that maximize the efficiency of delivering the project, excluding paragraphs (1) and (2).
(B)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide advance notification of work described in subparagraph (A) to the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General General, High-Speed Rail (OIG) and the chairs of the relevant committees of both houses of the Legislature. The OIG shall conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed work outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment within 60 days of notification and make a finding as to whether or not expenditure of funds for the proposed work will result in a delay in the completion of the Merced to Bakersfield segment. After that time, the OIG shall provide its analysis to chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget before contracts for projects outside of the Merced to Bakersfield segment are considered by the High-Speed Rail Authority for approval.
(C)Before expenditure of funds pursuant to this paragraph, the High-Speed Rail Authority shall provide notification of grant applications to the chairpersons of the committees of both houses of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees of both houses of the Legislature that consider the State Budget. Approval of the grant application by the Department of Finance may be authorized no sooner than 30 days after notification in writing to the chairpersons of the committees in each house of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the chairpersons of the committees and the appropriate subcommittees in each house of the Legislature that consider the State Budget.
(d)(1)This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2030, or when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded, whichever is sooner, and shall be repealed on January 1 of the following year.
(2)The High-Speed Rail Authority shall inform the Legislature when the Merced to Bakersfield segment is fully funded in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 3.The heading of Division 19.7 (commencing with Section 187000) of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:19.7.High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General General, High-Speed RailSEC. 4.Section 187010 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187010.Unless the context requires otherwise, for purposes of this division, the following definitions apply:
(a)Inspector General means the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail appointed pursuant to Section 187020.
(b)Merced to Bakersfield segment means a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the central valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.
(c)Office means the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General General, High-Speed Rail established pursuant to Section 187020.
(d)Personnel issues means matters specific to the employment relationship between the High-Speed Rail Authority and its employees, including, but not limited to, hiring and promotional decisions, performance reviews, progressive discipline, adverse actions, grievances, merit issue complaints, workplace harassment, discrimination, or possible wage or supply theft having an immaterial effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. For purposes of this division, personnel issues does not mean fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement by the High-Speed Rail Authority or its employees having a material effect, as determined by the Inspector General, on the planning, delivery, and operation of the project.
(e)Project means the high-speed rail project undertaken by the High-Speed Rail Authority pursuant to Division 19 (commencing with Section 185000) of this code and Chapter 20 (commencing with Section 2704) and Chapter 20.5 (commencing with Section 2704.75) of Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code.
SEC. 5.The heading of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 187020) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:2.The High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General General, High-Speed RailSEC. 6.Section 187020 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187020.(a)(1)There is hereby created the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General. General, High-Speed Rail.
(2)The Governor shall appoint the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail to a four-year term from a list of three qualified individuals nominated by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall select the three qualified individuals from a pool of candidates after conducting a comprehensive search for qualified individuals. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee shall provide at least 120 days notice that it is seeking applicants for nomination by providing notice in the Journals of the Senate and the Assembly and by advertising in appropriate newspapers and with nationally acknowledged professional journals and associations. Names for consideration by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee may be submitted by members of the Legislature, professional organizations, individuals, and other entities. The Inspector General shall be chosen without reference to party affiliation and solely on the ground of fitness to perform the duties of the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General. General of the High-Speed Rail.
(3)The Legislature and the Governor may provide suggested qualifications to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to consider when making its nominations.
(b)The Office of the Inspector General office shall not be a subdivision of any other governmental entity.
(c)The Inspector General may not be removed from office by the Governor during that term, except for good cause.
SEC. 7.Section 187024 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187024.(a)Subject to applicable law, the Inspector General shall select, appoint, and employ officers and employees necessary to carry out the functions of the office. In making these selections, the Inspector General shall ensure that those officers and employees have the requisite training and experience to enable the Inspector General to carry out their duties effectively.
(b)To recruit and retain qualified officers and employees with the relatively higher level of education, expertise, knowledge, and ability necessary to perform time-sensitive, technically complex reviews of the project, the Inspector General may, notwithstanding any other law, adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, so long as the Inspector General determines that any individual to be hired meets or exceeds applicable eligibility requirements and minimum qualifications.
SEC. 8.Section 187026 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187026.(a)The Inspector General may contract for goods and services that the Inspector General deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of the office.
(b)For a contract up to one million dollars ($1,000,000) in value, the Inspector General shall be exempt from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review, or approval by the Department of General Services or any other state agency.
SEC. 9.The heading of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 187030) of Division 19.7 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:3.Responsibilities of the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General of the High-Speed RailSEC. 10.Section 187035 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187035.(a)The Inspector General shall not destroy any papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than three years after the corresponding report is published or delivered pursuant to Section 187037.
(b)All books, papers, records, and correspondence of the office pertaining to its work are public records subject to Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code and shall be filed at any of the regularly maintained offices of the Inspector General, except that none of the following items or papers of which these items are a part shall be released to the public by the Inspector General or the employees of the Inspector General:
(1)Personal papers and correspondence of any person providing assistance to the Inspector General when that person has requested in writing that their papers and correspondence be kept private and confidential. Those papers and correspondence shall become public records if the written request is withdrawn, or upon the order of the Inspector General.
(2)Papers, correspondence, memoranda, or any substantive information pertaining to any audit or review not completed.
(3)Papers, correspondence, or memoranda pertaining to any audit or review that has been completed, which papers, correspondence, or memoranda are not used in support of any report resulting from the audit or review.
(4)Any survey of public employees or contracted staff that the Inspector General determines should be kept confidential to deter retaliation if the employees or staff respond to the survey.
(5)Any papers, correspondence, memoranda, electronic communications, or other documents pertaining to internal discussions between the Inspector General and the Inspector Generals staff, or between staff members of the Inspector General, or any personal notes of the Inspector General or the Inspector Generals staff.
(6)Any record of an investigation conducted under this division, including, but not limited to, all investigative files and work product, except that the Inspector General, whenever the Inspector General determines it necessary to serve the interests of the state, may issue a public report of the results of an investigation that has substantiated a violation of laws, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety. Except as provided in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 187032, the Inspector General may also release any findings or evidence supporting any findings resulting from an investigation conducted pursuant to this division whenever the Inspector General determines it necessary to serve the interests of the state.
SEC. 11.Section 187037 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:187037.(a)Except as provided in subdivision (b), upon completion of an audit or review conducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 187030, the Inspector General shall do all of the following:
(1)Publish a complete report on its internet website.
(2)Provide, in compliance with policies developed by the Inspector General, notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority.
(3)Submit a copy of the published report to the Legislature in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(b)(1)The Inspector General shall not make a report publicly available pursuant to subdivision (a) if the Inspector General determines that the report, or a portion of the report, would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses, including those involving information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation, that could be exploited by individuals attempting to harm the interests of the state or inappropriately benefit from the project.
(2)If the Inspector General makes a determination pursuant to paragraph (1), the Inspector General shall deliver a confidential report, or a confidential portion of the completed report, that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project, which may include the executive director and board chair of the High-Speed Rail Authority, the chairs of the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation, or the Governor.
SEC. 12.Section 187038 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:187038.(a)Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the Inspector General shall report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings, positive and negative, of any reviews, investigations, or audits conducted published pursuant to this division, when the High-Speed Rail Authority provides statutorily required documents to the Legislature, Section 187037 at the beginning of each fiscal year and upon request of the Legislature or Governor. The summary shall be posted on the offices internet website and otherwise made available to the public upon its release to the Legislature and the Governor. The summary shall include, but not be limited to, significant problems discovered by the office, and whether previous recommendations the office has made have been implemented.
(b)Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the Inspector General shall report annually to the Legislature and the Governor on findings related to the High-Speed Rail Authoritys planning and delivery of the project. This report shall include updates on the High-Speed Rail Authoritys efforts to remedy any identified findings, and whether any identified findings have been addressed.
(c)The Inspector General shall maintain a list of identified findings, and the status of the High-Speed Rail Authoritys efforts to address them, and shall post that list on the offices internet website.
(d)Reports to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 13.The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 10 and 11 of this act, which add Sections 187035 and 187037 to the Public Utilities Code, impose a limitation on the publics right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
Keeping certain records and reports of the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail confidential is necessary to enable the Inspector General to fully conduct audits and investigations and may be necessary, under certain circumstances, to ensure the security of the high-speed rail project. Under these circumstances, keeping these records and reports confidential outweighs the interest in public disclosure of the information contained in these records and reports.
|
Date
|
Status
|
|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2026 | Vetoed by Governor. |
| Sep 3, 2026 | Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m. |
| Aug 26, 2026 | Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 64. Noes 8.). |
| Aug 26, 2026 | Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 64. Noes 8. Page 6630.). |
| Aug 26, 2026 | In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. |
| Aug 26, 2026 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.). |
| Aug 26, 2026 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5858.). |
| Aug 11, 2026 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
| Aug 10, 2026 | From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. |
| Aug 5, 2026 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
| Aug 3, 2026 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
| Jul 2, 2026 | In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. |
| Jul 1, 2026 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 2.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
| Jun 24, 2026 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 9. Noes 4.) (June 23). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. |
| May 27, 2026 | In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. |
| May 13, 2026 | Referred to Coms. on TRANS. and JUD. |
| May 5, 2026 | In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. |
| May 4, 2026 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 52. Noes 20.) |
| May 4, 2026 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 52. Noes 20. Page 4904.) |
| May 4, 2026 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. |
| Apr 23, 2026 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
| Apr 22, 2026 | From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 4.) (April 22). |
| Apr 8, 2026 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 3.) (April 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
| Mar 24, 2026 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (March 23). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. |
| Mar 11, 2026 | Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. |
| Mar 10, 2026 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on TRANS. Read second time and amended. |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Referred to Coms. on TRANS. and JUD. |
| Jan 21, 2026 | From printer. May be heard in committee February 20. |
| Jan 20, 2026 | Read first time. To print. |
|
Date
|
Description
|
Location
|
Votes
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 26, 2026 | AB 1608 Wilson Concurrence in Senate Amendments | Assembly Floor |
Passed |
|
| Aug 26, 2026 | Assembly 3rd Reading AB1608 Wilson By Wiener | Senate Floor |
Passed |
|
| Jun 30, 2026 | Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] | Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary |
Passed |
|
| Jun 23, 2026 | Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] | Senate Standing Committee on Transportation |
Passed |
|
| May 4, 2026 | AB 1608 Wilson Assembly Third Reading | Assembly Floor |
Passed |
|
| Apr 22, 2026 | Do pass. | Assembly Standing Committee on Appropriations |
Passed |
|
| Apr 7, 2026 | Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] | Assembly Standing Committee on Judiciary |
Passed |
|
| Mar 23, 2026 | Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] | Assembly Standing Committee on Transportation |
Passed |
This list shows positions taken on this bill by organizations on the date displayed, which is linked to the original source.
Positions by individuals are not included.
|
Organization
|
Position
|
Date
|
|---|---|---|
| Association of Inspector Generals | ** Support | |
| Association of Inspectors General | ** Support | |
| First Amendment Coalition | ** Support | |
| The First Amendment Coalition | ** Support |
GOVERNOR′S VETO
GV Bill Id:AB 1608
Author:(Wilson)
As Enrolled Ver:August 30, 2026
2/3 vote
SUMMARY
Authorizes the Office of the Inspector General (IG), High-Speed Rail to use position classifications that other state agencies performing oversight work use and for any contract signed by the IG up to $1 million in value, exempts it from certain contracting requirements.
Senate Amendments
Remove provisions regarding sharing confidential information, sharing and destroying workpapers, making records public under the Public Record Act, and publishing completed reports because these or similar provisions were included in SB 169 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 82, Statutes of 2026.
Governor′s Veto Message
This bill would exempt the Office of the Inspector General (Office) for the California High-Speed Rail Authority from specified state personnel and contracting requirements.
The Office was established in 2022 to strengthen independent oversight and accountability. Earlier this year, we enhanced the Office′s authority by enacting budget trailer bill language expanding the Office′s ability to protect whistleblowers and safeguard sensitive investigative records while preserving transparency and accountability.
My administration has also continued to support the Office thought targeted actions, including a planned increase in its information technology project delegation authority. The Office should continue working with the appropriate state agencies to address its operational needs through existing processes rather than receive broad, permanent exemptions from generally applicable statewide administrative safeguards.
For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill.
COMMENTS
SB 1420, (Kopp) Chapter 796 of 1996 established HSRA to plan and construct a high speed rail system that would link the state′s major population centers. In November 2008, voters approved Proposition 1A, which authorized the state to sell $10 billion in general obligation bonds to partially fund the system and related projects. Proposition 1A also specified certain criteria and conditions that the system must ultimately achieve. For example, the measure requires that the system be designed to be capable of specified travel times along certain routes, such as nonstop travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles within two hours and forty minutes. The measure also specifies that passenger rail service operated by HSRA, or pursuant to its authority, will not require an operating subsidy.
The Legislature passed SB 198 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 71, Statutes of 2022 which in addition to other things, established an Office of the Inspector General (OIG-HSR) to conduct timely, independent oversight of the project and make recommendations to strengthen the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. The OIG-HSR is an independent office that is not a subdivision of any other governmental entity, including the HSRA.
The first IG was appointed in September 2023. Since that time, the office has completed four reviews of reports HSRA is statutorily required to produce and four operational reviews of the project. Consistent with state law, the OIG-HSR maintains a list of its findings and the status of the HSRA′s efforts to address them and publishes the list on the office′s website.
The OIG-HSR faces numerous challenges in part because it is new, small, and some of the issues it is encountering were not considered at the time the office was created. The OIG-HSR has been slowed in its ability to identify problems with the high-speed rail project and recommend solutions by the following factors:
Staff vacancies. The OIG-HSR does not have access to job classifications that match the skill set required of its staff. Thus, despite its recruitment efforts over the last two years, only four of eight staff positions are filled. OIG-HSR reviews and investigations have been delayed and will continue to be delayed by a lack of staff.
Lack of purchasing authority. Over many years of organizational development, state departments obtain delegations to execute contracts and procure IT goods and services. However, until then, many smaller state departments use the administrative services of their overseeing agency. Under state law, the OIG-HSR is an independent office and not a component part of any other agency. Thus, its procurements are processed by the Department of General Services or the California Technology Department, leading to significant delays and increased costs in acquiring the goods and services needed to fulfill its mission, including establishing a secure whistleblower hotline. This can result in delays in acquiring expertise needed to complete time-sensitive evaluations of the project and create excessive cost and administrative burdens on the OIG-HSR.
According to the Author
The Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail serves as the public′s eyes and ears on one of California′s most consequential infrastructure projects. Californians depend on the OIG to surface contracting failures, project delays, and cost overruns. This bill strengthens that oversight by ensuring the office can hire the qualified staff it needs and by requiring its reports to be made public.
Arguments in Support
According to the Association of Inspector Generals, ″AB 1608 enhances the operational independence of the OIG-HSR by providing greater flexibility in personnel administration and contracting authority, and reducing unnecessary administrative constraints. AIG′s Green Book recognizes an OIG must possess sufficient autonomy and resources to recruit, retain, and deploy qualified professionals necessary to fulfill its oversight mission.″
Arguments in Opposition
None on file.
FISCAL COMMENTS
Pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
VOTES
ASM TRANSPORTATION: 12-4-0
YES: Wilson, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Carrillo, Harabedian, Hart, Jackson, Papan, Ransom, Rogers, Sharp-Collins, Ward
NO: Davies, Hoover, Lackey, Macedo
ASM JUDICIARY: 9-3-0
YES: Kalra, Lee, Bryan, Connolly, Harabedian, Pacheco, Papan, Stefani, Zbur
NO: Macedo, Dixon, Sanchez
ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 9-4-2
YES: Wicks, Arambula, Caloza, Fong, Mark González, Krell, Pacheco, Pellerin, Solache
NO: Hoover, Dixon, Ta, Tangipa
ABS, ABST OR NV: Calderon, Muratsuchi
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-20-8
YES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alvarez, Ávila Farías, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Carrillo, Connolly, Elhawary, Fong, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Mark González, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Valencia, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas
NO: Alanis, Bains, Castillo, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Ellis, Flora, Gallagher, Jeff Gonzalez, Hadwick, Hoover, Johnson, Lackey, Macedo, Patterson, Sanchez, Ta, Tangipa, Wallis
ABS, ABST OR NV: Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Caloza, Chen, Muratsuchi, Patel, Schiavo
SENATE FLOOR: 39-0-1
YES: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Becker, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cervantes, Choi, Cortese, Dahle, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, McNerney, Menjivar, Niello, Padilla, Pérez, Reyes, Richardson, Rubio, Seyarto, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Strickland, Umberg, Valladares, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener
ABS, ABST OR NV: Ochoa Bogh
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 64-8-7
YES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Connolly, Dixon, Elhawary, Fong, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lackey, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas
NO: Chen, Davies, DeMaio, Ellis, Johnson, Macedo, Sanchez, Tangipa
ABS, ABST OR NV: Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Castillo, Flora, Hoover, Patel, Ta
UPDATED
VERSION: August 30, 2026
CONSULTANT: Farra Bracht / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0004619
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
CSA1 Bill Id:AB 1608
Author:(Wilson)
As Amended Ver:August 5, 2026
Majority vote
SUMMARY
Authorizes the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), High-Speed Rail to use position classifications that other state agencies performing oversight work use and for any contract signed by the IG up to $1 million in value, exempts it from certain contracting requirements.
Senate Amendments
Remove provisions regarding sharing confidential information, sharing and destroying workpapers, making records public under the Public Record Act, and publishing completed reports because these or similar provisions were included in SB 169 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 82, Statutes of 2026.
COMMENTS
Chapter 796 of 1996 (SB 1420, Kopp) established HSRA to plan and construct a high‑speed rail system that would link the state's major population centers. In November 2008, voters approved Proposition 1A, which authorized the state to sell $10 billion in general obligation bonds to partially fund the system and related projects. Proposition 1A also specified certain criteria and conditions that the system must ultimately achieve. For example, the measure requires that the system be designed to be capable of specified travel times along certain routes, such as nonstop travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles within two hours and forty minutes. The measure also specifies that passenger rail service operated by HSRA, or pursuant to its authority, will not require an operating subsidy.
The Legislature passed SB 198 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 71, Statutes of 2022 which in addition to other things, established an Office of the Inspector General (OIG-HSR) to conduct timely, independent oversight of the project and make recommendations to strengthen the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. The OIG-HSR is an independent office that is not a subdivision of any other governmental entity, including the HSRA.
The first IG was appointed in September 2023. Since that time, the office has completed four reviews of reports HSRA is statutorily required to produce and four operational reviews of the project. Consistent with state law, the OIG-HSR maintains a list of its findings and the status of the HSRA's efforts to address them and publishes the list on the office's website.
The OIG-HSR faces numerous challenges in part because it is new, small, and some of the issues it is encountering were not considered at the time the office was created. The OIG-HSR has been slowed in its ability to identify problems with the high-speed rail project and recommend solutions by the following factors:
Staff vacancies. The OIG-HSR does not have access to job classifications that match the skill set required of its staff. Thus, despite its recruitment efforts over the last two years, only four of eight staff positions are filled. OIG-HSR reviews and investigations have been delayed and will continue to be delayed by a lack of staff.
Lack of purchasing authority. Over many years of organizational development, state departments obtain delegations to execute contracts and procure IT goods and services. However, until then, many smaller state departments use the administrative services of their overseeing agency. Under state law, the OIG-HSR is an independent office and not a component part of any other agency. Thus, its procurements are processed by the Department of General Services or the California Technology Department, leading to significant delays and increased costs in acquiring the goods and services needed to fulfill its mission, including establishing a secure whistleblower hotline. This can result in delays in acquiring expertise needed to complete time-sensitive evaluations of the project and create excessive cost and administrative burdens on the OIG-HSR.
According to the Author
The Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail serves as the public's eyes and ears on one of California's most consequential infrastructure projects. Californians depend on the OIG to surface contracting failures, project delays, and cost overruns. This bill strengthens that oversight by ensuring the office can hire the qualified staff it needs and by requiring its reports to be made public.
Arguments in Support
According to the Association of Inspector Generals, "AB 1608 enhances the operational independence of the OIG-HSR by providing greater flexibility in personnel administration and contracting authority, and reducing unnecessary administrative constraints. AIG's Green Book recognizes an OIG must possess sufficient autonomy and resources to recruit, retain, and deploy qualified professionals necessary to fulfill its oversight mission."
Arguments in Opposition
None on file.
FISCAL COMMENTS
Pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
VOTES:
ASM TRANSPORTATION: 12-4-0
YES: Wilson, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Carrillo, Harabedian, Hart, Jackson, Papan, Ransom, Rogers, Sharp-Collins, Ward
NO: Davies, Hoover, Lackey, Macedo
ASM JUDICIARY: 9-3-0
YES: Kalra, Lee, Bryan, Connolly, Harabedian, Pacheco, Papan, Stefani, Zbur
NO: Macedo, Dixon, Sanchez
ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 9-4-2
YES: Wicks, Arambula, Caloza, Fong, Mark González, Krell, Pacheco, Pellerin, Solache
NO: Hoover, Dixon, Ta, Tangipa
ABS, ABST OR NV: Calderon, Muratsuchi
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-20-8
YES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alvarez, Ávila Farías, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Carrillo, Connolly, Elhawary, Fong, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Mark González, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Valencia, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas
NO: Alanis, Bains, Castillo, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Ellis, Flora, Gallagher, Jeff Gonzalez, Hadwick, Hoover, Johnson, Lackey, Macedo, Patterson, Sanchez, Ta, Tangipa, Wallis
ABS, ABST OR NV: Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Caloza, Chen, Muratsuchi, Patel, Schiavo
UPDATED
VERSION: August 5, 2026
CONSULTANT: Farra Bracht / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0004274
SENATE RULES COMMITTEE Office of Senate Floor Analyses (916) 651-4171 | AB 1608 |
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1608
Author: Wilson (D)
Amended: 8/5/26 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE: 9-4, 6/23/26
AYES: Cortese, Archuleta, Arreguín, Blakespear, Gonzalez, Grayson, Menjivar, Richardson, Wiener
NOES: Strickland, Dahle, Seyarto, Valladares
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 11-2, 6/30/26
AYES: Umberg, Allen, Ashby, Caballero, Durazo, Laird, Reyes, Stern, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener
NOES: Niello, Valladares
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-20, 5/4/26 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST:
This bill renames the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and makes changes to strengthen the independence of the office.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
- Creates the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) in the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). (Public Utilities Code Section (PUC) 185020)
- Requires the Authority to direct the development and implementation of an intercity high-speed rail service. (PUC 185030)
- Establishes the Office of the High-Speed Rail Inspector General (OIG) and gives it the authority to initiate an audit or review of the Authority. (PUC 187020)
- Enumerates the duties and responsibilities of OIG. (PUC 187030)
- Requires OIG to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings, reviews, investigations, or audits. (PUC 187038)
This bill:
- Makes finding and declarations regarding the importance of the independence of OIG.
- Renames the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
- Authorizes OIG to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies, if certain conditions are met.
- Exempts OIG from all contract requirements that require oversight, review, or approval from the Department of General Services (DGS) or any other state agency, and any information technology project requirements of the Government Code, for any contract up to $1 million in value.
Comments
- Purpose of the bill. According to the author, “The Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail serves as the public's eyes and ears on one of California's most consequential infrastructure projects. Californians depend on the OIG to surface contracting failures, project delays, and cost overruns. This bill strengthens that oversight by ensuring the office can hire the qualified staff it needs and by requiring its reports to be made public. At the same time, the bill responsibly protects truly sensitive information. Safeguards related to security, fraud detection, and pending litigation are not about secrecy. They prevent bad-faith actors from exploiting the system. Transparency and accountability are strengthened, while the integrity of the project is preserved.”
- California High-Speed Rail. Development of high-speed rail in California began nearly 30 years ago. SB 1420 (Kopp, Chapter 796, Statutes of 1996), created the Authority to direct development and implementation of intercity high-speed rail service that would be fully coordinated with other public transportation services. The Authority is part of CalSTA and is governed by an eleven-member Board of Directors.
Beginning in 2008 with Proposition 1A, billions of dollars have been allocated to the Authority from a variety of sources to construct an operating high speed rail train between San Francisco and Los Angeles. This includes Proposition 1A funds, federal funds, and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds (GGRF). In total, the project has received roughly $20 billion to date, and is anticipated to receive an additional $20 billion over the next 20 years from GGRF. However, from the start, the project has been plagued by cost overruns and delays. The most recent business plan, released in Spring 2026, places the total cost for the project at an estimated $128 billion and expects the project to be completed decades behind schedule.
In order to address these shortcomings, the Authority has recently proposed an overhaul of the project. Specifically, the Authority has proposed a number of scope changes, such as moving station locations, reducing the amount of dual track segments, attempting to bring in private funding, and exploring various forms of value-capture and ancillary revenues. However, many of these changes are controversial and would require major statutory changes. Furthermore, the Authority lacks specific details or authority to implement many of these proposed plans. - High-Speed Rail Office of the Inspector General. In part to address ongoing concerns with the project, in 2022, the Legislature created the High-Speed Rail Office of the Inspector General. The purpose of OIG is to conduct timely, independent oversight of the high-speed rail project and make recommendations to strengthen the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. OIG is an independent office, appointed by the Governor from a list of candidates provided by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. OIG is not a subdivision of any other governmental entity, including the Authority.
The first OIG was appointed in September 2023. Since that time, the office has completed four reviews of reports the Authority is statutorily required to produce and four operational reviews of the project, including reviews of the Authority’s contracting practices. Consistent with state law, OIG maintains a list of its findings and the status of the Authority’s efforts to address them and publishes the list on the office’s website. - OIG Challenges. Due to OIG’s nature as a new and small office, they have faced a variety of challenges getting up and running. Many of these issues were not anticipated by the Legislature at the time of the office’s creation. These issues have meant OIG has been slowed in its ability to identify problems with the high-speed rail project and recommend solutions. Key issues include:
a) Ongoing staff vacancies. Namely, OIG does not have access to job classifications that match the skill set required of its staff. Thus, despite its recruitment efforts over the last two years, only four of eight staff positions are filled. OIG reviews and investigations have been delayed and will continue to be delayed by a lack of staff.
- Lack of purchasing authority. In general, big state agencies gain the authority to execute contracts and procure goods or services over time as their needs grow. In contrast, most small or new agencies, like OIG, use the administrative services of their overseeing agency. However, OIG is an independent office and is therefore not a component part of any other agency. Thus, its procurements are processed instead by DGS or the California Technology Department, which have led to significant delays and increased costs in acquiring the goods and services needed to fulfill its mission, including establishing a secure whistleblower hotline. Specifically, this has resulted in delays in acquiring software and other tools needed to complete time-sensitive evaluations of the high-speed rail project and has created excessive cost and administrative burdens on OIG.
- Unclear reporting requirements. State law does not direct OIG to make its reports public, except for an annual summary of its work. The current OIG has been releasing public reports on all of its investigations, however this is not statutorily required. Furthermore, current statute does not clearly delineate when information obtained by OIG can be held confidential for security and privacy reasons, and when information must be publicly disclosed in the interest of transparency.
The issue of unclear reporting requirements was addressed in a previous version of this bill, whose language was subsequently incorporated into the transportation budget trailer bill SB 169 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 82, Statutes of 2026). Namely, this language added more specific guidelines regarding when OIG must publish reports and about the public release of OIG documents.
- AB 1608 seeks to address remaining OIG challenges. The current iteration of this bill addresses the remaining issues by fleshing out OIG’s authorizing statutes. Specifically, this bill contains two major provisions. The first provides OIG access to classifications and salary ranges used by other state agencies carrying out similar types of work. This will allow OIG to hire additional staff with the skills required to fill vacancies, and do so with competitive salary and benefits. Second, this bill provides OIG with independent purchasing authority on contracts up to $1 million in value. This change will allow OIG to acquire the services and software they need to carry out their responsibilities in an efficient and timely manner.
Beyond these major provisions, this bill also renames OIG’s official title and office title to emphasize OIG’s independence from the Authority.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No
SUPPORT: (Verified 8/10/2026)
Association of Inspectors General
OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/10/2026)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-20, 5/4/26
AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alvarez, Ávila Farías, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Carrillo, Connolly, Elhawary, Fong, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Mark González, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Valencia, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas
NOES: Alanis, Bains, Castillo, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Ellis, Flora, Gallagher, Jeff Gonzalez, Hadwick, Hoover, Johnson, Lackey, Macedo, Patterson, Sanchez, Ta, Tangipa, Wallis
NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Caloza, Chen, Muratsuchi, Patel, Schiavo
Prepared by: Samuel Myers / TRANS. / (916) 651-4121
8/12/26 16:18:50
Senator Thomas Umberg, Chair
2025-2026 Regular Session
Bill No: AB 1608 (Author:Wilson)
Version: March 10, 2026
Hearing Date: June 30, 2026
Fiscal: Yes
Urgency: No
Consultant: AM
SUBJECT
Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail
DIGEST
This bill makes various changes to the Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail to strengthen the office and enhance its oversight of the High-Speed Rail Authority.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2008, voters approved Proposition 1A authorizing the state to sell bonds to finance a high-speed rail project; however, the progress of California’s high-speed rail line has been plagued with delays and cost overruns. The Legislature enacted SB 1980 (Budget and Fiscal Review, Ch. 71, Stats. 2022) to establish an Inspector General (IG) to serve as a watchdog to monitor the high-speed rail project. This bill seeks to update the statutes governing the IG to, among other things, strengthen the independence of the office and establish guidelines relating to the publishing of reports by the office and what information is confidential versus public.
The bill is author sponsored and supported by the First Amendment Coalition. No timely opposition was received by the Committee. The bill passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee on a vote of 9 to 4.
PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE LAW
Existing law:
- Establishes the California High Speed Rail Authority as an eleven-member body appointed to direct the development and implementation of intercity high-speed rail service that is fully integrated with the state’s existing intercity rail and bus network, consisting of interlinked conventional and high-speed rail lines and associated feeder buses. (Pub. Util. Code §§ 185000 et seq.)
- Establishes the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General. (Pub. Util. Code § 187020.)
- Specifies that the duties and responsibilities of the Inspector General include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
- To conduct independent fiscal estimates and reviews of the High-Speed Rail Authority’s plans and estimates for project advancement and make findings of the reasonableness of those plans and estimates;
- To monitor progress toward meeting the milestones toward the implementation of the successful completion of the Merced to Bakersfield segment of the project;
- To conduct audits and investigations relating to delivery of the project;
- To identify best practices in the delivery of capital projects and recommend policies to enable the High-Speed Rail Authority to adopt these practices when practicable;
- To recommend policies promoting efficiency in the administration of programs and operations as part of any audit finding;
- To review the High-Speed Rail Authority process for considering proposed and executed change orders and to make any recommendations to ensure the process is appropriate for determining the merit and reasonableness of change orders;
- To review the High-Speed Rail Authority’s contracts and contracting practices to determine whether they are executed consistent with state and federal laws and policies and are conducted in a fair and reasonable manner, providing the state with valued services at reasonable cost;
- To review proposed agreements to ensure that they are in the best interest of the state, the High-Speed Rail Authority’s statutory mission, and state priorities; and
- To review or investigate adherence to contract provisions, including, but not limited to, billing and invoicing requirements, of any public or private entity, including a High-Speed Rail Authority contractor, that receives project funds. (Pub. Util. Code § 187030(b).)
- Provides, pursuant to the California Constitution, that the people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and, therefore, the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies are required to be open to public scrutiny. (Cal. const. art. I, § 3(b)(1).)
- Requires a statute to be broadly construed if it furthers the people’s right of access, and narrowly construed if it limits the right of access. (Cal. const. art. I, § 3(b)(1).)
- Requires a statute that limits the public’s right of access to be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. (Cal. const. art. I, § 3(b)(1).)
- Governs the disclosure of information collected and maintained by public agencies pursuant to the CPRA. (Gov. Code §§ 792.000 et seq.)
- States that, the Legislature, mindful of the right of individuals to privacy, finds and declares that access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. (Gov. Code § 7921.000.)
- Defines “public records” as any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics. (Gov. Code § 7920.530.)
- Defines “public agency” as any state or local agency. (Gov. Code § 7920.525(a).)
- Provides that all public records are open to inspection at all times during the office hours of a state or local agency and every person has a right to inspect any public record, unless the record is exempt from public disclosure. Any reasonably segregable portion of a record shall be available for inspection by any person requesting the record after deletion of the portions that are exempted by law. (Gov. Code § 7922.525.)
- Some records are prohibited from being disclosed and other records are permissively exempted from being disclosed. (See e.g. Gov. Code §§ 7920.505 & 7922.200.)
- There are several general categories of documents or information that are permissively exempt from disclosure under the CPRA essentially due to the character of the information. The exempt information can be withheld by the public agency with custody of the information, but it also may be disclosed if it is shown that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs the public’s interest in non-disclosure of the information. (CBS, Inc. v. Block (1986) 42 Cal.3d 646, at 652.).
This bill:
- Renames the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General (OIG) as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail, and makes various changes to the act to enhance the IG’s oversight.
- Specifies that providing confidential information to OIG does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.
- Declares that all books, papers, records and correspondence of the IG pertaining to their work are public records subject to the CPRA, except as specified.
- Authorizes the IG to hold a report, or a portion thereof, confidential if the IG determines it would reveal weaknesses in information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed. After the IG makes this determination, the IG must:
- Make publicly available any reasonably segregable portion of the report that does not pose the substantial and articulable risk identified;
- Publicly disclose that a report, or a portion of the report, has been held confidential and provide the rationale for doing so;
- Deliver a copy of the confidential report, or a confidential portion of the report, that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project; and,
- Reassess, within 120 days and at least every 120 days thereafter, whether continued confidentiality is warranted, and if not, publicly release the report
COMMENTS
- Stated need for the bill
The author writes:
The Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail serves as the public's eyes and ears on one of California's most consequential infrastructure projects. Californians depend on the OIG to surface contracting failures, project delays, and cost overruns. This bill strengthens that oversight by ensuring the office can hire the qualified staff it needs and by requiring its reports to be made public.
At the same time, the bill responsibly protects truly sensitive information. Safeguards related to security, fraud detection, and pending litigation are not about secrecy. They prevent bad-faith actors from exploiting the system. Transparency and accountability are strengthened, while the integrity of the project is preserved.
- Public records and confidentiality
In 2004, the right of public access was enshrined in the California Constitution with the passage of Proposition 59 (Nov. 3, 2004, statewide general election),[1] which amended the California Constitution to specifically protect the right of the public to access and obtain government records: “The people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and therefore . . . the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to public scrutiny.” (Cal. Const., art. I, sec. 3 (b)(1).) In 2014, voters approved Proposition 42 (Jun. 3, 2014, statewide direct primary election)[2] to further increase public access to government records by requiring local agencies to comply with the CPRA and the Ralph M. Brown Act[3], and with any subsequent statutory enactment amending either act, as provided. (Cal. Const., art. I, sec. 3 (b)(7).)
Under the CPRA, public records are open to inspection by the public at all times during the office hours of the agency, unless exempted from disclosure. (Gov. Code § 7922.252.) A public record is defined as any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any public agency regardless of physical form or characteristics. (Gov. Code § 7920.530.) There are several general categories of documents or information that are permissively exempt from disclosure under the CPRA essentially due to the character of the information. The exempt information can be withheld by the public agency with custody of the information, but it also may be disclosed if it is shown that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs the public’s interest in non-disclosure of the information. (CBS, Inc. v. Block (1986) 42 Cal.3d 646, at 652.). Additionally, some records are prohibited from disclosure or are specifically stated to not be public records. (see Gov. Code § 7924.110(a).)
The bill seeks to provide a balance between public transparency and proper oversight with the understanding that some information the IG possesses is confidential and of a sensitive nature. The bill provides that personal papers and correspondence of any person assisting the IG, such as a whistleblower, may be kept confidential if the person making the complaint requests confidentiality. Additionally, the bill authorizes the IG to keep aspects of some reports confidential if public disclosure could identify weaknesses in the project, including information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation, that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed. The bill requires the IG to revisit information kept confidential to determine if secrecy remains necessary.
The bill provides that keeping certain records and reports of the OIG confidential is necessary to enable the IG to fully conduct audits and investigations to ensure the security of the high-speed rail project. Under these circumstances, keeping these records and reports confidential outweighs the interest in public disclosure of the information contained in these records and reports.
- Stakeholder statements
The First Amendment Coalition writes in support stating:
[…] the bill addresses an ambiguity in existing law that created the office, making clear the IG’s office has a mandate to produce and publish reports of its reviews and investigations on its website, subject to limited withholding provisions. And with the recent amendments, the withholding provisions are narrowly tailored, require an explanation of the reason for any withholding or redaction, and, notably, are not indefinite. Amendments taken prior to hearing in the Assembly Transportation committee also ensure that routine records of the IG’s office are not subject to a blanket exemption to the Public Records Act.
We appreciate the productive dialogue with the author and Transportation committee in developing language that appropriately balances legitimate confidentiality needs with the public’s right to know. We hope it can serve as a model framework for similar watchdog agencies.
SUPPORT
First Amendment Coalition
OPPOSITION
None received
PRIOR VOTES
Senate Transportation Committee (Ayes 9, Noes 4)
Assembly Floor (Ayes 52, Noes 20)
Assembly Appropriations Committee (Ayes 9, Noes 4)
Assembly Judiciary Committee (Ayes 9, Noes 3)
Assembly Transportation Committee (Ayes 12, Noes 4)
**************
Prop. 59 was placed on the ballot by a unanimous vote of both houses of the Legislature. (SCA 1 (Burton, Ch. 1, Stats. 2004)) ↑
Prop. 42 was placed on the ballot by a unanimous vote of both houses of the Legislature. (SCA 3 (Leno, Ch. 123, Stats. 2013)) ↑
The Ralph M. Brown Act is the open meetings laws that applies to local agencies. (Gov. Code §§ 59450 et. seq.) ↑
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Senator Dave Cortese, Chair
2025 - 2026 Regular
Bill No: Hearing Date: 6/23/2026
Author: | Wilson | ||
Version: | 3/10/2026 Amended | ||
Urgency: | No | Fiscal: | Yes |
Consultant: | Samuel Myers | ||
SUBJECT:
DIGEST: This bill renames the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General, makes changes to strengthen the independence of the office, and adds to guidelines relating to the publishing of reports by the office.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
- Creates the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) in the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) with 11 members: five appointed by the Governor, two appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, two appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, and one each ex-officio member appointed by the Senate and Assembly. (PUC 185020)
- Requires the Authority to direct the development and implementation of an intercity high-speed rail service. (PUC 185030)
- Establishes the Office of the High-Speed Rail Inspector General (OIG) and gives it the authority to initiate an audit or review of the Authority. (PUC 187020)
- Enumerates the duties and responsibilities of OIG to include, at a minimum: (PUC 187030)
- Conducting independent fiscal estimates and reviews of the Authority’s plans and estimates for the project;
- Conducting audits and investigations;
- Making recommendations regarding best practices and ways to improve efficiency;
- Reviewing change orders;
- Reviewing contract and contracting practices to determine if they are consistent with state and federal laws and policies;
- Reviewing proposed agreements to ensure they are in the best interest of the state; and,
- Reviewing or investigating adherence to contract provisions, including, but not limited to, billing and invoicing requirements of any entity that receives project funds.
- Conducting independent fiscal estimates and reviews of the Authority’s plans and estimates for the project;
- Requires OIG to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings, reviews, investigations, or audits. (PUC 187038)
This bill:
- Renames the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
- Authorizes OIG to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies, if certain conditions are met.
- Exempts OIG from all contract requirements that require oversight, review, or approval from the Department of General Services (DGS), or any other state agency, for any contract up to $1 million in value.
- States that providing confidential information, as specified, to OIG does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.
- Prohibits OIG from destroying papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than three years after the corresponding report is published or delivered.
- Declares that all books, papers, records and correspondence of OIG pertaining to its work are public records subject to the California Public Records Act, except as specified.
- Requires OIG, upon completion of an audit or review, to publish a complete report on its internet website, provide notification of the published report to the Governor and the Authority, and submit a copy of the published report to the Legislature.
- Authorizes OIG to hold a report, or portion of a report, confidential if OIG determines it would reveal weaknesses in information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed. After making this determination, OIG must:
- Make publicly available any reasonably segregable portion of the report that does not pose the substantial and articulable risk identified;
- Publicly disclose that a report, or a portion of the report, has been held confidential and provide the rationale for doing so;
- Deliver a copy of the confidential report, or a confidential portion of the report, that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project; and,
- Reassess, within 120 days and at least every 120 days thereafter, whether continued confidentiality is warranted, and if not, publicly release the report.
- Changes the date of the annual reporting requirements to the beginning of each fiscal year.
COMMENTS:
- Purpose of the bill. According to the author, “The Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail serves as the public's eyes and ears on one of California's most consequential infrastructure projects. Californians depend on the OIG to surface contracting failures, project delays, and cost overruns. This bill strengthens that oversight by ensuring the office can hire the qualified staff it needs and by requiring its reports to be made public. At the same time, the bill responsibly protects truly sensitive information. Safeguards related to security, fraud detection, and pending litigation are not about secrecy. They prevent bad-faith actors from exploiting the system. Transparency and accountability are strengthened, while the integrity of the project is preserved.”
- California High-Speed Rail. Development of high-speed rail in California began nearly 30 years ago. SB 1420 (Kopp, Chapter 796, Statutes of 1996), created the Authority to direct development and implementation of intercity high-speed rail service that would be fully coordinated with other public transportation services. The Authority is part of CalSTA and is governed by an eleven-member Board of Directors.
Beginning in 2008 with Proposition 1A, billions of dollars have been allocated to the Authority from a variety of sources to construct an operating high speed rail train between San Francisco and Los Angeles. This includes Proposition 1A funds, federal funds, and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds (GGRF). In total, the project has received roughly $20 billion to date, and is anticipated to receive an additional $20 billion over the next 20 years from GGRF. However, from the start, the project has been plagued by cost overruns and delays. The most recent business plan, released in Spring 2026, places the total cost for the project at an estimated $128 billion and expects the project to be completed decades behind schedule.
In order to address these shortcomings, the Authority has recently proposed an overhaul of the project. Specifically, the Authority has proposed a number of scope changes, such as moving station locations, reducing the amount of dual track segments, attempting to bring in private funding, and exploring various forms of value-capture and ancillary revenues. However, many of these changes are controversial and would require major statutory changes. Furthermore, the Authority lacks specific details or authority to implement many of these proposed plans. - High-Speed Rail Office of the Inspector General. In part to address ongoing concerns with the project, in 2022, the Legislature created the High-Speed Rail Office of the Inspector General. The purpose of the OIG is to conduct timely, independent oversight of the high-speed rail project and make recommendations to strengthen the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. OIG is an independent office, appointed by the Governor from a list of candidates provided by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The OIG is not a subdivision of any other governmental entity, including the Authority.
The first OIG was appointed in September 2023. Since that time, the office has completed four reviews of reports the Authority is statutorily required to produce and four operational reviews of the project, including reviews of the Authority’s contracting practices. Consistent with state law, the OIG maintains a list of its findings and the status of the Authority’s efforts to address them and publishes the list on the office’s website.
- OIG Challenges. Due to the OIG’s nature as a new and small office, they have faced a variety of challenges getting up and running. Many of these issues were not anticipated by the Legislature at the time of the office’s creation. These issues have meant OIG has been slowed in its ability to identify problems with the high-speed rail project and recommend solutions. Key issues include:
- Ongoing staff vacancies. Namely, OIG does not have access to job classifications that match the skill set required of its staff. Thus, despite its recruitment efforts over the last two years, only four of eight staff positions are filled. OIG reviews and investigations have been delayed and will continue to be delayed by a lack of staff.
- Lack of purchasing authority. In general, big state agencies gain the authority to execute contracts and procure goods or services over time as their needs grow. In contrast, most small or new agencies, like OIG, use the administrative services of their overseeing agency. However, OIG is an independent office and is therefore not a component part of any other agency. Thus, its procurements are processed instead by DGS or the California Technology Department, which have led to significant delays and increased costs in acquiring the goods and services needed to fulfill its mission, including establishing a secure whistleblower hotline. Specifically, this has resulted in delays in acquiring software and other tools needed to complete time-sensitive evaluations of the high-speed rail project and has created excessive cost and administrative burdens on OIG.
- Unclear reporting requirements. State law does not direct OIG to make its reports public, except for an annual summary of its work. The current OIG has been releasing public reports on all of its investigations, however this is not statutorily required. Furthermore, current statute does not clearly delineate when information obtained by OIG can be held confidential for security and privacy reasons, and when information must be publicly disclosed in the interest of transparency.
- Ongoing staff vacancies. Namely, OIG does not have access to job classifications that match the skill set required of its staff. Thus, despite its recruitment efforts over the last two years, only four of eight staff positions are filled. OIG reviews and investigations have been delayed and will continue to be delayed by a lack of staff.
- AB 1608 seeks to address OIG challenges. AB 1608 addresses these issues by fleshing out OIG’s authorizing statutes. Specifically, AB 1608 contains three major provisions. The first provides OIG access to classifications and salary ranges used by other state agencies carrying out similar types of work. This will allow OIG to hire additional staff with the skills required to fill vacancies, and do so with competitive salary and benefits. Second, AB 1608 provides OIG with independent purchasing authority on contracts up to $1 million in value. This change will allow OIG to acquire the services and software they need to carry out their responsibilities in an efficient and timely manner.
Finally, the third major set of provisions clarifies and adds guidelines to the publishing of reports by OIG. First and foremost, AB 1608 requires OIG to publicly release a report on the results of any investigation that identifies problematic findings. These can include violation of laws, rules, or regulations, mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or dangers to public safety. Additionally, AB 1608 makes all books, papers, records, and correspondence of OIG public records, except under specific conditions.
Under these conditions, OIG would not be required to publicly release information for audits and investigations currently in progress, information that would endanger whistleblowers or specific individuals, or information that could publicly reveal a specific, substantial risk to the project or state operations. For example, if an audit found a large cybersecurity vulnerability, or a method by which an outside agent could significantly defraud the Authority, OIG would not be compelled to release this information. Instead, in this situation, OIG would be required to publicly release as much of the report as possible, disclose that part of the report is being held confidential and why, and deliver that withheld portion of the report to state officials with the oversight and authority to fix the identified issues. OIG would then further be required to reassess if the relevant section still needed to be confidential and do so at least every 120 days. As soon as the report is no longer needed to be held confidential, OIG would be required to release it publicly.
Beyond these major provisions, AB 1608 also renames OIG’s official title and office title to emphasize OIG’s independence from the Authority. - Transparency and confidentiality. AB 1608 seeks to find a balance between maintaining government transparency and protecting confidential information. This is done by broadly requiring all reports and documents from OIG to be publicly disclosed or be in some way publicly available. However, specific exceptions are listed where public disclosure could potentially be more harmful than beneficial. According to OIG, these are limited to particular situations where the safety of individuals or the integrity of the project would be placed under extreme risk. This latter category is intended to capture situations where specific weaknesses could be revealed in the project’s information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or ongoing litigation that, if disclosed, could significantly jeopardize the project, the state, or public safety in some way.
Overall, AB 1608 attempts to balance the importance of both transparency and confidentiality. Writing in support, the First Amendment Coalitions states, “AB 1608 clarifies public reporting requirements of the inspector general. Specifically, the bill addresses an ambiguity in existing law that created the office, making clear the IG’s office has a mandate to produce and publish reports of its reviews and investigations on its website, subject to limited withholding provisions. And with the recent amendments, the withholding provisions are narrowly tailored, require an explanation of the reason for any withholding or redaction, and, notably, are not indefinite.” - Double referral. This bill has been doubled referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Related/previous Legislation:
SB 1260 (Niello, 2024) – Would have required OIG to conduct two independent reviews related to the high-speed rail project. This bill was held in Senate Transportation Committee.
SB 198 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 71, Statutes of 2022) – Appropriated the remaining $4.2 billion Proposition 1A bonds for the high-speed rail project and created the High-Speed Rail OIG, among other things.
SB 1420 (Kopp, Chapter 796, Statutes of 1996) – Created the Authority to direct development and implementation of intercity high-speed rail service that would be fully coordinated with other public transportation services.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Fiscal Com.: Local:
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday,
June 17, 2026.)
SUPPORT:
The First Amendment Coalition
OPPOSITION:
None received
-- END --
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
ATR Bill Id:AB 1608
Author:(Wilson)
As Amended Ver:March 10, 2026
Majority vote
SUMMARY
Makes changes to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), High-Speed Rail to strengthen the independence and oversight capabilities of the office.
Major Provisions
- Renames (a) the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail (OIG) and (b) the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail (IG).
- Authorizes the IG to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the IG as performing oversight work comparable to the work of the OIG, if certain conditions are met.
- For any contract signed by the IG up to $1 million in value, exempts the IG from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review or approval by the Department of General Services (DGS) or any other state agency.
- States that providing confidential information, as specified, to the IG does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.
- Prohibits the IG from destroying papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than three years after the corresponding report is published or delivered.
- Declares that all books, papers, records and correspondence of the OIG pertaining to its work are public records subject to the California Public Records Act (PRA), except as specified.
- Requires the IG, upon completion of an audit or review, (a) publish a complete report on its internet website, (b) provide notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) and (c) submit a copy of the published report to the Legislature.
- Authorizes the IG to hold a report, or portion of a report, confidential if the IG determines the report, or a portion of the report, would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed.
- Requires the IG, if it holds a report, or portion of a report, confidential, to (a) make publicly available any reasonably segregable portion of the report that does not pose the substantial and articulable risk identified, as described above, (b) publicly disclose that a report, or a portion of the report, has been held confidential and provide the rationale for doing so and (c) deliver a confidential report, or a confidential portion of the report, that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project, which may include the executive director and board chair of the HSRA, the chairs of the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation, or the Governor.
- Requires the IG, within 120 days after deciding to hold a report, or a portion of a report, confidential, as described above, and at least every 120 days thereafter while a report, or a portion of a report, is held confidential, to reassess whether continued confidentiality is warranted.
COMMENTS
Chapter 796 of 1996 (SB 1420, Kopp) established HSRA to plan and construct a high‑speed rail system that would link the state's major population centers. In November 2008, voters approved Proposition 1A, which authorized the state to sell $10 billion in general obligation bonds to partially fund the system and related projects. Proposition 1A also specified certain criteria and conditions that the system must ultimately achieve. For example, the measure requires that the system be designed to be capable of specified travel times along certain routes, such as nonstop travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles within two hours and forty minutes. The measure also specifies that passenger rail service operated by HSRA, or pursuant to its authority, will not require an operating subsidy.
The Legislature passed SB 198 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 71, Statutes of 2022 which in addition to other things, established an Office of the Inspector General (OIG-HSR) to conduct timely, independent oversight of the project and make recommendations to strengthen the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. The OIG-HSR is an independent office that is not a subdivision of any other governmental entity, including the HSRA.
The first IG was appointed in September 2023. Since that time, the office has completed four reviews of reports HSRA is statutorily required to produce and four operational reviews of the project. Consistent with state law, the OIG-HSR maintains a list of its findings and the status of the HSRA's efforts to address them and publishes the list on the office's website.
The OIG-HSR faces numerous challenges in part because it is new, small, and some of the issues it is encountering were not considered at the time the office was created. The OIG-HSR has been slowed in its ability to identify problems with the high-speed rail project and recommend solutions by the following factors:
Staff vacancies. The OIG-HSR does not have access to job classifications that match the skill set required of its staff. Thus, despite its recruitment efforts over the last two years, only four of eight staff positions are filled. OIG-HSR reviews and investigations have been delayed and will continue to be delayed by a lack of staff.
Lack of purchasing authority. Over many years of organizational development, state departments obtain delegations to execute contracts and procure IT goods and services. However, until then, many smaller state departments use the administrative services of their overseeing agency. Under state law, the OIG-HSR is an independent office and not a component part of any other agency. Thus, its procurements are processed by the Department of General Services or the California Technology Department, leading to significant delays and increased costs in acquiring the goods and services needed to fulfill its mission, including establishing a secure whistleblower hotline. This can result in delays in acquiring expertise needed to complete time-sensitive evaluations of the project and create excessive cost and administrative burdens on the OIG-HSR.
Unclear reporting requirements and protection of workpapers. State law does not direct the OIG-HSR to make its reports public, except for an annual summary of its work. In addition, state law does not give the OIG-HSR the authority to protect whistleblowers and to ensure that information that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project can be kept confidential. These are standard provisions for OIGs.
Staff comments. It is critical to the success of the construction and operation of the state's high-speed rail project that there is effective, independent oversight of the project. Recommendations the OIG makes can help to ensure the state's resources are used effectively and efficiently. This bill strengthens the operations of the OIG by doing the following: giving it the tools necessary to hire qualified staff and procure services in a timely fashion and at the same time increasing the transparency of its work by ensuring that appropriate information is made publicly available.
According to the Author
"The Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail serves as the public's eyes and ears on one of California's most consequential infrastructure projects. Californians depend on the OIG to surface contracting failures, project delays, and cost overruns. This bill strengthens that oversight by ensuring the office can hire the qualified staff it needs and by requiring its reports to be made public.
At the same time, the bill responsibly protects truly sensitive information. Safeguards related to security, fraud detection, and pending litigation are not about secrecy. They prevent bad-faith actors from exploiting the system. Transparency and accountability are strengthened, while the integrity of the project is preserved."
Arguments in Support
First Amendment Coalition writes "AB 1608 clarifies public reporting requirements of the inspector general. Specifically, the bill addresses an ambiguity in existing law that created the office, making clear the IG's office has a mandate to produce and publish reports of its reviews and investigations on its website, subject to limited withholding provisions. And with the recent amendments, the withholding provisions are narrowly tailored, require an explanation of the reason for any withholding or redaction, and, notably, are not indefinite. Additional amendments ensure that routine records of the IG's office are not subject to a blanket exemption to the Public Records Act."
"We appreciate the productive dialogue with your office and the committee in developing language that appropriately balances legitimate confidentiality needs with the public's right to know. We hope it can serve as a model framework for similar watchdog agencies."
Arguments in Opposition
None on file.
FISCAL COMMENTS
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
Any costs to the IG— to adopt and make use of the classifications; to maintain papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review; to comply with PRA requests; to publish completed reports on its website and provide copies to various entities; to publicly disclose reasons for holding a report confidential and provide the rationale for doing so; and to reassess determinations of confidentiality—will likely be minor and absorbable with the IG's budget.
VOTES
ASM TRANSPORTATION: 12-4-0
YES: Wilson, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Carrillo, Harabedian, Hart, Jackson, Papan, Ransom, Rogers, Sharp-Collins, Ward
NO: Davies, Hoover, Lackey, Macedo
ASM JUDICIARY: 9-3-0
YES: Kalra, Lee, Bryan, Connolly, Harabedian, Pacheco, Papan, Stefani, Zbur
NO: Macedo, Dixon, Sanchez
ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 9-4-2
YES: Wicks, Arambula, Caloza, Fong, Mark González, Krell, Pacheco, Pellerin, Solache
NO: Hoover, Dixon, Ta, Tangipa
ABS, ABST OR NV: Calderon, Muratsuchi
UPDATED
VERSION: March 10, 2026
CONSULTANT: Farra Bracht / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0002403
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2026
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Buffy Wicks, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1608
Author:(Wilson) – As Amended Ver:March 10, 2026
Policy Committee: | Transportation | Vote: | 12 - 4 |
Judiciary | 9 - 3 | ||
|
|
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill renames the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and makes several changes to enable the Inspector General to operate independently of other state agencies when publishing reports, making hiring decisions and entering into contracts with a value of up to $1 million.
Specifically, this bill, among other things:
- Renames (a) the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General as the as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail (OIG) and (b) the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail (IG).
- Authorizes the IG to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the IG as performing oversight work comparable to the work of the OIG, if certain conditions are met.
- For any contract signed by the IG up to $1 million in value, exempts the IG from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review or approval by the Department of General Services (DGS) or any other state agency.
- States that providing confidential information, as specified, to the IG does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.
- Prohibits the IG from destroying papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than three years after the corresponding report is published or delivered.
- Declares that all books, papers, records and correspondence of the OIG pertaining to its work are public records subject to the California Public Records Act (PRA), except as specified.
- Requires the IG, upon completion of an audit or review, (a) publish a complete report on its internet website, (b) provide notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) and (c) submit a copy of the published report to the Legislature.
- Authorizes the IG to hold a report, or portion of a report, confidential if the IG determines the report, or a portion of the report, would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed.
- Requires the IG, if it holds a report, or portion of a report, confidential, to (a) make publicly available any reasonably segregable portion of the report that does not pose the substantial and articulable risk identified, as described above, (b) publicly disclose that a report, or a portion of the report, has been held confidential and provide the rationale for doing so and (c) deliver a confidential report, or a confidential portion of the report, that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project, which may include the executive director and board chair of the HSRA, the chairs of the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation, or the Governor.
- Requires the IG, within 120 days after deciding to hold a report, or a portion of a report, confidential, as described above, and at least every 120 days thereafter while a report, or a portion of a report, is held confidential, to reassess whether continued confidentiality is warranted.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Any costs to the IG— to adopt and make use of the classifications; to maintain papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review; to comply with PRA requests; to publish completed reports on its website and provide copies to various entities; to publicly disclose reasons for holding a report confidential and provide the rationale for doing so; and to reassess determinations of confidentiality—will likely be minor and absorbable with the IG’s budget.
COMMENTS:
In November 2008, voters approved Proposition 1A, which authorized the state to sell $10 billion in general obligation bonds to partially fund a high-speed rail system that connects the San Francisco Transbay Terminal to Los Angeles Union Station and Anaheim, and links the state’s major population centers, including Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Orange County and San Diego. The HSRA—an 11-member body of gubernatorial and legislative appointees whose existence predates Proposition 1A—estimated in 2006 that the total cost to develop and construct the entire high-speed train system would be about $45 billion.
In 2022, the Legislature passed legislation to direct HSRA to prioritize, among other things, completion of planning and construction of the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment of the high-speed rail system. In addition, the Legislature created the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and tasked it with, among other things:
- Conducting independent fiscal estimates and reviews of HSRA’s plans and estimates for project advancement and making findings of the reasonableness of those plans and estimates.
- Monitoring progress toward meeting the milestones toward the implementation of the successful completion of the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment of the project.
- Conducting audits and investigations relating to delivery of the project.
- Identifying best practices in the delivery of capital projects and recommending policies to enable HSRA to adopt these practices when practicable.
- Recommending policies promoting efficiency in the administration of programs and operations as part of any audit findings.
- Reviewing HSRA’s process for considering proposed and executed change orders and making recommendations to ensure the process is appropriate for determining the merit and reasonableness of change orders.
- Reviewing HSRA’s contracts and contracting practices to determine whether they are executed consistently with state and federal laws and policies and are conducted in a fair and reasonable manner, providing the state with valued services at reasonable cost.
- Reviewing proposed agreements to ensure that they are in the best interest of the state, HSRA’s statutory mission and state priorities.
The first IG was appointed in 2023 and the OIG has since released four reviews of HSRA reports.
The author contends the OIG lacks statutory authority to ensure its independence and effectiveness:
The Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail serves as the public’s eyes and ears on one of California’s most consequential infrastructure projects. Californians depend on the OIG to surface contracting failures, project delays, and cost overruns. This bill strengthens that oversight by ensuring the office can hire the qualified staff it needs and by requiring its reports to be made public.
As described above, the bill requires the IG, if it holds a report confidential, to, among other things, deliver a confidential copy that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project. The bill lists the state officials to whom the IG may deliver such a report: the executive director and board chair of the HSRA, the chairs of the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation, or the Governor. Notably, this list of state officials does not include the vice chairs of the Legislature’s transportation committees. The author, when asked about this omission during the Assembly Judiciary Committee’s hearing on the bill, asserted the list of potential recipients is limited to “state officials with oversight of the project.” The author committed to considering addition of the vice chairs to the list of state officials to whom the IG may deliver such a report.
Analysis Prepared by: Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
Date of Hearing: April 7, 2026
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Ash Kalra, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1608
Author:(Wilson) – As Amended Ver:March 10, 2026
SUBJECT: Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail
KEY ISSUE: should reforms, including adopting specialized public records provisions, be made to the office of the inspector general, high-speed rail, to make the office a more effective government watchdog?
SYNOPSIS
California’s High Speed Rail Authority has existed in state government for nearly thirty years; however, the agency was given a sweeping new mandate when voters approved Proposition 1A in 2008 to authorize the state to sell bonds to finance a high-speed rail project in the state. However, the development of California’s high-speed rail line has been plagued with delays and cost overruns. Seeking to enhance oversight of the High Speed Rail Authority, in 2022, the Legislature enacted SB 198 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Chap. 71, Stats. 2022 to create an Inspector General to serve as a watchdog to monitor the high-speed rail project. However, the statutes authorizing the Inspector General have proved insufficient to permit the Inspector General to properly complete their work.
Seeking to enhance the authority of the Inspector General, this bill reforms the Office’s authorizing statutes. The bill enhances the Inspector General’s powers to properly staff the Office and provides for new contracting authority to the Inspector General to permit them to complete their work. Of most note to this Committee, this bill would provide some protections against public disclosure for information that is confidentially provided to the Inspector General. Although this bill importantly makes documents obtained and produced by the Inspector General public documents as the default, this bill does provide for limited circumstances in which records may be kept confidential to both protect informants and to ensure that information that may pose a safety or security risk to the high-speed rail project is not prematurely disclosed.
This bill is supported by the First Amendment Coalition who applauds the author’s efforts to strike the proper balance between public access to governmental records and ensuring that the Inspector General can be an effective government watchdog. The bill has no recorded opposition and was previously heard and approved by the Committee on Transportation by a vote of twelve to four.
SUMMARY: Reforms the Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail to strengthen the office and boost its oversight of the High Speed Rail Authority. Specifically, this bill:
- Renames the office as the Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and revises the title of the Inspector General as the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
- Authorizes the Inspector General to adopt and make use of the classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation established or otherwise used by other state agencies identified by the Inspector General as performing comparable oversight work, so long as the Inspector General determines that any individual to be hired meets or exceeds applicable eligibility requirements and minimum qualifications.
- Exempts from all contract requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review, or approval by the Department of General Services or any other state agency any contract signed by the Inspector General up to one million dollars ($1,000,000) in value.
- Clarifies that providing confidential information to the Inspector General including, but not limited to, confidential information that is subject to a privilege, does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.
- Prohibits the Inspector General from destroying any papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than three years after the corresponding report is published or delivered.
- Clarifies that all books, papers, records, and correspondence of the office pertaining to its work are public records subject to the California Public Records Act, except that none of the following items or papers of which these items are a part of are to be released to the public by the Inspector General or the employees of the Inspector General:
- Personal papers and correspondence of any person providing assistance to the Inspector General when that person has requested in writing that their papers and correspondence be kept private and confidential, as specified;
- Papers, correspondence, memoranda, or any substantive information pertaining to any audit or review not completed;
- Papers, correspondence, or memoranda pertaining to any audit or review that has been completed, which papers, correspondence, or memoranda are not used in support of any report resulting from the audit or review;
- Any survey of public employees or contracted staff that the Inspector General determines should be kept confidential to deter retaliation if the employees or staff respond to the survey; and
- Any record of an investigation, including, but not limited to, all investigative files and work product, except that the Inspector General, whenever the Inspector General determines it necessary to serve the interests of the state, may issue a public report of the results of an investigation that has substantiated a violation of laws, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety.
- Specifies that the provisions of 6) apply only 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 all applicable laws regarding the disclosure of public records.
- Requires, upon completion of an audit or review, the Inspector General; to do all of the following:
- Publish a complete report on its internet website;
- Provide, in compliance with policies developed by the Inspector General, notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority; and
- Submit a copy of the published report to the Legislature.
- Provides that, notwithstanding 8), the Inspector General may hold a report, or a portion of a report, confidential if the Inspector General determines that the report, or a portion of the report, would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses, including those involving information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation, that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed.
- Requires, if the Inspector General holds a report confidential pursuant to 9), the Inspector General to do the following:
- Make publicly available any reasonably segregable portion of the report that does not pose the substantial and articulable risk identified in 9);
- Publicly disclose that a report, or a portion of the report, has been held confidential and provide the rationale for the determination; and
- Deliver a confidential report, or a confidential portion of the report, that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project, which may include the executive director and board chair of the High-Speed Rail Authority, the chairs of the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation, or the Governor.
- Requires the Inspector General, within 120 days after making a determination pursuant to 9), and at least every 120 days thereafter while a report, or a portion of a report, is held confidential, the Inspector General to reassess whether continued confidentiality is warranted.
EXISTING LAW:
- Establishes the California High Speed Rail Authority as an eleven member body appointed to direct the development and implementation of intercity high-speed rail service that is fully integrated with the state’s existing intercity rail and bus network, consisting of interlinked conventional and high-speed rail lines and associated feeder buses. (Public Utilities Code Section 185000 et seq.)
- Requires the California High Speed Rail Authority to submit a business plan to the Legislature every other year detailing the following:
- A description of the type of service the authority is developing and the proposed chronology for the construction of the statewide high-speed rail system, and the estimated capital costs for each segment or combination of segments;
- A forecast of the expected patronage, service levels, and operating and maintenance costs for the Phase 1 corridor and by each segment or combination of segments for which a project level environmental analysis is being prepared for Phase 1, as specified;
- Alternative financial scenarios for different levels of service, based on the patronage forecast specified in b) and the operating break-even points for each alternative level of service;
- The expected schedule for completing environmental review, and initiating and completing construction for each segment or combination of segments of Phase 1;
- An estimate and description of the total anticipated federal, state, local, and other funds the authority intends to access to fund the construction and operation of the system, and the level of confidence for obtaining each type of funding;
- Any written agreements with public or private entities to fund components of the high-speed rail system, including stations and terminals, and any impediments to the completion of the system;
- Alternative public-private development strategies for the implementation of Phase 1; and
- A discussion of all reasonably foreseeable risks the project may encounter, including, but not limited to, risks associated with the project’s finances, patronage, right-of-way acquisition, environmental clearances, construction, equipment, and technology, and other risks associated with the project’s development. (Public Utilities Code Section 185033.)
- Establishes the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General. (Public Utilities Code Section 187020.)
- Specifies that the duties and responsibilities of the Inspector General include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
- To conduct independent fiscal estimates and reviews of the High-Speed Rail Authority’s plans and estimates for project advancement and make findings of the reasonableness of those plans and estimates;
- To monitor progress toward meeting the milestones toward the implementation of the successful completion of the Merced to Bakersfield segment of the project;
- To conduct audits and investigations relating to delivery of the project;
- To identify best practices in the delivery of capital projects and recommend policies to enable the High-Speed Rail Authority to adopt these practices when practicable;
- To recommend policies promoting efficiency in the administration of programs and operations as part of any audit finding;
- To review the High-Speed Rail Authority process for considering proposed and executed change orders and to make any recommendations to ensure the process is appropriate for determining the merit and reasonableness of change orders;
- To review the High-Speed Rail Authority’s contracts and contracting practices to determine whether they are executed consistent with state and federal laws and policies and are conducted in a fair and reasonable manner, providing the state with valued services at reasonable cost;
- To review proposed agreements to ensure that they are in the best interest of the state, the High-Speed Rail Authority’s statutory mission, and state priorities; and
- To review or investigate adherence to contract provisions, including, but not limited to, billing and invoicing requirements, of any public or private entity, including a High-Speed Rail Authority contractor, that receives project funds. (Public Utilities Code Section 187030 (b).)
- Requires the Inspector General during regular business hours or at any other time determined necessary by the Inspector General to have access to and authority to examine and reproduce any and all books, accounts, reports, vouchers, correspondence, files, documents, and other records, and to examine the bank accounts, money, or other property of the High-Speed Rail Authority in connection with duties authorized by this law, as specified. (Public Utilities Code Section 187034.)
- Establishes the California Public Records Act and finds and declares that, while mindful of the right of individuals to privacy, access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. (Government Code Section 7920.000 et seq.)
- Provides that public records are open to inspection at all times during the office hours of a state or local agency and every person has a right to inspect any public record, except as otherwise provided in law. (Government Code Section 7922.525.)
FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal.
COMMENTS: In 2008 California voters approved Proposition 1A, which authorized the state to sell $10 billion in general obligation bonds to fund a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Proposition 1A also required the project to meet certain travel time goals and prohibited the rail line from operating with a subsidy. In the nearly two decades since the passage of Proposition 1A, California’s high-speed rail project has been plagued by delays and cost overruns. Seeking to boost accountability for the project, in 2022, the Legislature created an Inspector General to oversee and audit the project. (SB 198 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Chap. 71, Stats. 2022.) This bill would strengthen the oversight tools provided to the Inspector General and provide for reinforce confidentiality rules governing information provided to the Inspector General. In support of the bill the author states:
The Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail serves as the public’s eyes and ears on one of California’s most consequential infrastructure projects. Californians depend on the IG to surface contracting failures, project delays, and cost overruns. This bill strengthens that oversight by ensuring the office can hire the qualified staff it needs and by requiring its reports to be made public.
At the same time, the bill responsibly protects truly sensitive information. Safeguards related to security, fraud detection, and pending litigation are not about secrecy. They prevent bad-faith actors from exploiting the system. Transparency and accountability are strengthened, while the integrity of the project is preserved.
California’s High Speed Rail Project has struggled to meet its ambitious goals. In 1996, the Legislature created the High Speed Rail Authority to plan and construct a high‑speed rail system that would link the state’s major population centers. (SB 1420 (Kopp) Chap. 796, Stats. 1996.) The push for high-speed rail in California received a major boost when voters approved Proposition 1A in 2008, to provide for $10 billion in general obligation bonds to fund the project. Despite the $10 billion bond authority and semi-regular infusions of money from the state’s Cap and Invest program, the High Speed Rail Authority has struggled to finance a high-speed rail project. Compounding these issues have been the Authority’s struggles to obtain right-of-way access for the tracks needed to complete the rail project and the near-complete lack of federal support for the project. (Assem. Com. on Transportation, Background Report: Oversight Hearing on the California High-Speed Rail Project (2025-26 Reg. Session) available at: https://atrn.assembly.ca.gov/media/3510.)
Seeking to make up for the inconsistent funding, the High Speed Rail Authority has consistently sought to find innovative funding sources, including pursuing public-private partnerships and other means to leverage private investment into the project. To date, it does not appear that sufficient private-sector investment has been generated to address the high-speed rail project’s needs. However, as with all private investments in government projects, the need to oversee fund management to ensure the prudent use of taxpayer dollars is imperative.
The Office of the Inspector General was created to improve accountability of the California High Speed Rail Authority. Recognizing the need to oversee the High Speed Rail Authority’s spending and project goals, in 2022, the Legislature enacted the aforementioned SB 198 to create an Inspector General to oversee the high-speed rail project. The Office was tasked with receiving complaints about the High Speed Rail Authority and is required to produce regular reports to the Legislature regarding the High Speed Rail Authority’s progress in constructing the project.
However, the author of this bill notes that the Office of the Inspector General was not given proper resources to complete its mission. The author notes that the Office has struggled to hire and retain competent staff, has inadequate purchasing and contracting authority, and lacks clear legal parameters regarding the handling of sensitive information submitted to the Office. Although the Office has met its reporting obligations to the Legislature the author of this bill contends reforms are necessary to ensure that the Inspector General can properly oversee the High Speed Rail Authority.
The California Public Records Act generally favors robust disclosure of public records. Access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. (Government Code Section 7921.000.) In 2004, the right of public access was enshrined in the California Constitution with the passage of Proposition 59 (Nov. 3, 2004, statewide general election), placed on the ballot by a unanimous vote of both houses of the Legislature. SCA 1 (Burton) Chap. 1, Stats. 2004 amended the California Constitution to specifically protect the right of the public to access and obtain government records: “The people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and therefore . . . the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to public scrutiny.” (Cal. Const., art. I, sec. 3 (b)(1).) In 2014, voters approved Proposition 42 (Jun. 3, 2014, statewide direct primary election), placed on the ballot by a unanimous vote of both houses of the Legislature, (SCA 3 (Leno) Chap. 123, Stats. 2013), to further increase public access to government records by requiring local agencies to comply with the California Public Records Act and the Ralph M. Brown Act, and with any subsequent statutory enactment amending either act, as provided. (Cal. Const., art. I, Sec. 3 (b)(7).)
Under the California Public Records Act public records are open to inspection at all times during the office hours of a public agency for inspection by the public, unless exempted. (Section 7922.525.) A public record is defined as any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any public agency regardless of physical form or characteristics. (Section 7920.530.) The Public Records Act allows a public agency 10 days or, in specified “unusual circumstances,” an additional 14 days after the 10-day period to respond to a request for the requested public record, and authorizes the agency to charge a fee for its “direct costs of duplication” of the record. (Sections 7922.530 (a), 7922.535.)
Despite the Public Records Act’s general rule that public records are open to inspection and subject to disclosure, the Act provides exceptions for documents, or portions thereof, that are inappropriate for public disclosure. An exemption can be explicit in the Public Records Act itself, pursuant to another law, or justified by the agency’s determination, based on the facts of the particular case. One aspect of public records that is explicitly exempted from disclosure involves information that is deemed personal or sensitive. For example, Government Code Section 7930.180 explicitly exempts more than a dozen records that contain highly sensitive personal information, including records containing information protected by doctor-patient privilege, documents containing personal financial records, and documents containing industry trade secrets.
This bill balances the Inspector General’s ability to gain access to sensitive information about the High Speed Rail Authority with the need for public access to important government documents. This bill aims to balance proper oversight of the High Speed Rail Authority, with the need for government transparency, and the recognition that some sensitive information provided to the Inspector General may not be suitable for immediate public disclosure. Accordingly, this bill provides that all records of the Inspector General are public records, thereby generally favoring disclosure under the California Public Records Act. However, the bill also recognizes that making complaints and other confidential reports to the Inspector General public may deter whistleblowers and others with sensitive information from sharing such information with the Inspector General. Accordingly, this bill provides that personal papers and correspondence of any person providing assistance to the Inspector General may be kept confidential if the person making the complaint requests such confidentiality. Additionally, the bill authorizes the Inspector General to keep aspects of some reports confidential should a public disclosure identify weaknesses in the project, including those involving information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation, that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed.
Seeking to balance this confidentiality with the public’s right to oversee government operations, the bill requires the Inspector General to regularly revisit information kept confidential to determine if secrecy remains necessary. For example, should an information security concern be resolved through software patches or other remedies, the bill would require the Inspector General to make the initial information public once the risk is no longer present. These provisions appear to strike an appropriate balance between necessary information privacy for sensitive issues and the public’s right to know.
This bill provides the Inspector General with the tools to build a robust governmental oversight agency. Although not within this Committee’s jurisdiction, the bill also makes several statutory reforms to aspects of the Inspector General’s Office unrelated to public records. The bill modifies the Inspector General’s staffing requirements, permitting the Inspector General to post vacancies at the appropriate civil service classification needed to recruit qualified staff. The bill also revises contracting provisions in order to streamline procurement and other needs for the Inspector General’s Office.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: This bill was crafted with input from the Inspector General and is supported by the First Amendment Coalition. In support of the public records aspects of the bill, the First Amendment Coalition writes:
The First Amendment Coalition is a California advocacy organization that promotes and defends free speech, a free press and the people’s right to know. Nonpartisan and nonprofit, FAC believes that the broadest range of engaged and informed communities is essential to the health of our democracy. We work with members of the public and press to exercise their rights of access, especially under the California Public Records Act. AB 16081 clarifies public reporting requirements of the inspector general. Specifically, the bill addresses an ambiguity in existing law that created the office, making clear the IG’s office has a mandate to produce and publish reports of its reviews and investigations on its website, subject to limited withholding provisions. And with the recent amendments, the withholding provisions are narrowly tailored, require an explanation of the reason for any withholding or redaction, and, notably, are not indefinite. Amendments taken prior to hearing in the Assembly Transportation committee also ensure that routine records of the IG’s office are not subject to a blanket exemption to the Public Records Act.
We appreciate the productive dialogue with the author and Transportation committee in developing language that appropriately balances legitimate confidentiality needs with the public’s right to know. We hope it can serve as a model framework for similar watchdog agencies.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
First Amendment Coalition
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by: Nicholas Liedtke / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
Date of Hearing: March 23, 2026
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Lori D. Wilson, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1608 (
Author:Wilson) – As Amended Ver:March 10, 2026
SUBJECT: Office of the Inspector General, High-Speed Rail
SUMMARY: Makes changes to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), High-Speed Rail to strengthen the independence and oversight capabilities of the office. Specifically, this bill:
- Authorizes the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail (IG) to use job classifications, associated salary ranges, and other forms of compensation already used by other state audit entities performing comparable oversight work.
- Authorizes the IG to contract for goods and services up to $1 million and for those exempts the IG from requirements of the Public Contract Code that require oversight, review, or approval by the Department of General Services or any other state agency.
- Requires the IG upon completion of a report to publish the report on its website, provide notification of completion to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority, and to submit a copy to the Legislature.
- Authorizes the IG to hold a report it produces, or a portion of that report, confidential for a period of time if it determines that the report, or a portion of the report would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses, including those involving information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed.
- If the IG makes the determination above requires the IG to do all of the following:
- Make publicly available any reasonable segregable portion of the report that does not pose the substantial and articulable risk identified;
- Publicly disclose that a report or a portion of the report has been held confidential and provide the rationale for the determination;
- Deliver a confidential report, or a confidential portion of the completed report, that describes and makes recommendations to resolve the identified weaknesses to state officials with oversight of the project, which may include the executive director and board chair of the High-Speed Rail Authority, the chairs of the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation, or the Governor; and,
- Requires a report, or portion of a report that is delivered to remain confidential only so long as the IG determines that public disclosure would continue to pose the substantial and articulable risk described above.
- Within 120 days after making a determination about the confidentiality of a report, or a portion of a report, requires the IG to assess at least every 120 days thereafter whether continued confidentiality is warranted and provide a written determination explaining why continued confidentiality remains warranted.
- Requires all books, papers, records, and correspondence of the IG to be public records subject to the California Public Records Act.
- Prohibits the IG from destroying any papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than three years after the corresponding report is published and requires them to be filed at regularly maintained offices of the IG, except that none of the following items or papers of which these items are a part shall be released to the public:
- Personal papers and correspondence of any person providing assistance to the IG concerning the existence of activity constituting a violation of laws, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety shall be kept private and confidential, when that person has requested such in writing and shall become public when that request is withdrawn;
- Papers, correspondence, memoranda, or any substantive information pertaining to any audit or review not completed;
- Papers, correspondence, or memoranda pertaining to any audit or review that has been completed, which papers, correspondence, or memoranda are not used in support of any report resulting from the audit or review;
- Any survey of public employees or contracted staff that the IG determines should be kept confidential to deter retaliation if the employees or staff respond to the survey;
- Any record of an investigation conducted under this division, including, but not limited to, all investigative files and work product, except that the IG, whenever the IG determines it necessary to serve the interests of the state, may issue a public report of the results of an investigation that has substantiated a violation of laws, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety. Except under specified circumstances, the IG may also release any findings or evidence supporting any findings resulting from an investigation conducted pursuant to this division whenever the IG determines it necessary to serve the interests of the state; and,
- Specifies that these restrictions on public disclosure described in subdivision shall only apply to records in the possession or control of the IG, and shall not alter the responsibility of any other state or local agency to comply with all applicable laws regarding the disclosure of public records.
- Specifies that an entity providing confidential information to the IG does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality.
- Changes the date of the annual reporting requirements to the beginning of each fiscal year.
- Renames the IG in state law as the Office of Inspector General, High-Speed Rail and revises the title of the IG to the Inspector General of the High-Speed Rail.
EXISTING LAW:
- Creates the HSRA in the California State Transportation Agency with 11 members: five appointed by the Governor, two appointed by Senate Committee on Rules, two appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, and one each ex-officio member appointed by the Senate and Assembly to oversee the planning, construction, and operation of the high-speed rail system. (Public Utilities Code, Section 185020)
- Requires HSRA to direct the development and implementation of an intercity high-speed rail service. (PUC §185030)
- Establishes the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General as an independent office. (PUC §187020)
- Establishes the IG’s duties as the following: (PUC §187030)
- Conducting independent fiscal estimates and reviews of the HSRA’s plans and estimates for the project;
- Conducting audits and investigations;
- Making recommendations regarding best practices and ways to improve efficiency;
- Reviewing change orders;
- Reviewing contract and contracting practices to determine if they are consistent with state and federal laws and policies;
- Reviewing proposed agreements to ensure they are in the best interest of the state; and,
- Reviewing billing and invoices of any entity that receives project funds.
- Requires the IG to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings, reviews, investigations, or audits. (PUC §187038)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: Chapter 796 of 1996 (SB 1420, Kopp) established HSRA to plan and construct a high‑speed rail system that would link the state’s major population centers. In November 2008, voters approved Proposition 1A, which authorized the state to sell $10 billion in general obligation bonds to partially fund the system and related projects. Proposition 1A also specified certain criteria and conditions that the system must ultimately achieve. For example, the measure requires that the system be designed to be capable of specified travel times along certain routes, such as nonstop travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles within two hours and forty minutes. The measure also specifies that passenger rail service operated by HSRA, or pursuant to its authority, will not require an operating subsidy.
The Legislature passed SB 198 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 71, Statutes of 2022 which in addition to other things, established an Office of the Inspector General (OIG-HSR) to conduct timely, independent oversight of the project and make recommendations to strengthen the planning, delivery, and operation of the project. The OIG-HSR is an independent office that is not a subdivision of any other governmental entity, including the HSRA.
The first IG was appointed in September 2023. Since that time, the office has completed four reviews of reports HSRA is statutorily required to produce and four operational reviews of the project. Consistent with state law, the OIG-HSR maintains a list of its findings and the status of the HSRA’s efforts to address them and publishes the list on the office’s website.
The OIG-HSR faces numerous challenges in part because it is new, small, and some of the issues it is encountering were not considered at the time the office was created. The OIG-HSR has been slowed in its ability to identify problems with the high-speed rail project and recommend solutions by the following factors:
Staff vacancies. The OIG-HSR does not have access to job classifications that match the skill set required of its staff. Thus, despite its recruitment efforts over the last two years, only four of eight staff positions are filled. OIG-HSR reviews and investigations have been delayed and will continue to be delayed by a lack of staff.
Lack of purchasing authority. Over many years of organizational development, state departments obtain delegations to execute contracts and procure IT goods and services. However, until then, many smaller state departments use the administrative services of their overseeing agency. Under state law, the OIG-HSR is an independent office and not a component part of any other agency. Thus, its procurements are processed by the Department of General Services or the California Technology Department, leading to significant delays and increased costs in acquiring the goods and services needed to fulfill its mission, including establishing a secure whistleblower hotline. This can result in delays in acquiring expertise needed to complete time-sensitive evaluations of the project and create excessive cost and administrative burdens on the OIG-HSR.
Unclear reporting requirements and protection of workpapers. State law does not direct the OIG-HSR to make its reports public, except for an annual summary of its work. In addition, state law does not give the OIG-HSR the authority to protect whistleblowers and to ensure that information that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project can be kept confidential. These are standard provisions for OIGs.
According to the author, “The Office of the Inspector General for High-Speed Rail serves as the public’s eyes and ears on one of California’s most consequential infrastructure projects. Californians depend on the OIG to surface contracting failures, project delays, and cost overruns. This bill strengthens that oversight by ensuring the office can hire the qualified staff it needs and by requiring its reports to be made public.
At the same time, the bill responsibly protects truly sensitive information. Safeguards related to security, fraud detection, and pending litigation are not about secrecy. They prevent bad-faith actors from exploiting the system. Transparency and accountability are strengthened, while the integrity of the project is preserved.”
Writing in support, the First Amendment Coalition writes “AB 1608 clarifies public reporting requirements of the inspector general. Specifically, the bill addresses an ambiguity in existing law that created the office, making clear the IG’s office has a mandate to produce and publish reports of its reviews and investigations on its website, subject to limited withholding provisions. And with the recent amendments, the withholding provisions are narrowly tailored, require an explanation of the reason for any withholding or redaction, and, notably, are not indefinite. Additional amendments ensure that routine records of the IG’s office are not subject to a blanket exemption to the Public Records Act.
“We appreciate the productive dialogue with your office and the committee in developing language that appropriately balances legitimate confidentiality needs with the public’s right to know. We hope it can serve as a model framework for similar watchdog agencies.”
Staff comments. It is critical to the success of the construction and operation of the state’s high-speed rail project that there is effective, independent oversight of the project. Recommendations the OIG makes can help to ensure the state’s resources are used effectively and efficiently. This bill strengthens the operations of the OIG by doing the following: giving it the tools necessary to hire qualified staff and procure services in a timely fashion and at the same time increasing the transparency of its work by ensuring that appropriate information is made publicly available.
Related legislation. SB 198 (Budget), Chapter 71, Statutes of 2020 required the authority to develop schedules for the delivery of specified tasks relating to the project for inclusion in the project update report and the business plan, required the authority to include certain other information in the project update report and the business plan relating to the Merced to Bakersfield segment of project and required the authority to notify the Legislature before submitting a federal grant application and before releasing a request for proposals after June 1, 2022, for contracts relating to specified aspects of the high-speed rail system. This bill established the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and provided that the office is not a subdivision of any other governmental entity and authorized the inspector general to initiate audits and reviews related to the delivery of the high-speed rail project and the selection and oversight of contractors.
SB 1420 (Kopp), Chapter 796 Statutes of 1996 established the HSRA to plan and construct a high‑speed rail system that would link the state’s major population centers.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
First Amendment Coalition
Opposition
Two individuals
Analysis Prepared by: Farra Bracht / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
Discussed in Hearing
57SEC
Assembly Floor
2MIN
Senate Floor
8MIN
Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary
20MIN
Senate Standing Committee on Transportation
28MIN
Assembly Floor
32MIN
Assembly Standing Committee on Appropriations
30MIN
Assembly Standing Committee on Judiciary
12MIN
Assembly Standing Committee on Transportation
Bill Author
Bill Co-Author(s):