The Budget Deficit and High Speed Rail in California Are Totally Separate

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Cruickshank

I've always believed that the main obstacle we will face in convincing Californians to build high speed rail this year isn't the pointless arguing over ridership projections or financial details. It's the fact that California faces a multibillion dollar budget deficit, and that will cause some voters to think "well gee maybe we shouldn't spend money when the state is in a deficit."

This thinking is very deeply flawed, but it's out there, as evidenced by a letter to the editor in yesterday’s Ventura County Star. The author, Ron Ruiz of Westlake Village, relies on several incorrect assumptions to argue that there is some kind of tradeoff between HSR and education funding:
“Despite the cuts to education, the California High Speed Rail Authority, as part of our transportation system, is seriously considering designing and constructing a high-speed rail line (200-plus mph) at an estimated cost of more than $33 billion....

“Wouldn't our leaders be more responsive and supportive to the people of California if they used their energy and wherewithal to provide the money that is critically needed for our strapped, declining educational system, instead of earmarking dollars and bond measures for a low-priority, nonsensical high-speed rail line that will serve but a fraction of our citizens?

“California's education system needs help and a lot more serious support from our legislators.

“Different departments? Different budgets? Different rules? If that's the case, then if our state lawmakers have made it impossible by regulation to effect this very urgent and reasonable budget trade-off, then those same lawmakers ought to be able to figure out how to bring about the necessary regulatory changes to make this budget trade-off work, in spite of the pressure from other special-interest groups.

“The buttressing of our decaying education system right now seems far more pressing and urgent than having a fast train.”

Ron Ruiz' problem is he doesn't understand why we have a budget crisis in the first place. The reason is California has a structural revenue shortfall - in other words, for the last 30 years we have not raised enough tax revenue to pay for our basic needs. The answer to this is NOT to turn to bonds - a structural problem needs a structural solution, and bond debt isn't such a solution.