Tagged: california

This bill prohibits the state of California from receiving federal funds for a high-speed rail corridor development project. Specifically, the prohibition applies to a project in California that is the same or substantially similar to the project that is the subject of an FY2010 cooperative agreement entered into on November 18, 2011, between the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).As background, CHSRA has received various federal grants for the California High-Speed Rail program, a project led by the state of California with the goal of implementing a high-speed rail system capable of speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The FRA terminated the specific FY2010 cooperative agreement on May 16, 2019.

Yosemite National Park Equal Access and Fairness ActThis bill modifies the Raker Act, which allowed San Francisco to dam the Hetch Hetchy Valley within Yosemite National Park, to (1) increase the annual rent San Francisco pays to the National Park Service (NPS), and (2) direct the NPS to expand public access to the reservoir and lake created by the dam.Specifically, the bill increases rent paid by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for the use of the park from $30,000 to $2 million per year. That amount must be adjusted annually to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. The commission may not recoup such sums from wholesale water or power customers. The bill allows collected rent to be used by the Department of the Interior for wildfire mitigation activities in the park and other national parks in California.The bill also requires the NPS to administer the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Lake Eleanor Basin areas for public recreation, benefit, and use in a manner that will preserve scenic, historic, scientific, or otherwise important features.