SB 964: HSR Bonds Bill

No. of Jobs

Thousands of construction jobs affected

Category

Prepare the state’s workforce

Proposal

Appropriate $500,000 in High-Speed Rail bond funds (Proposition 1A) to finance a labor workforce assessment to determine the skills necessary and available in-state workforce to construct, maintain and operate a high-speed rail system in California.

Summary

The legislation will use funds from the recently passed Proposition 1A, the Safe, Reliable High Speed Passenger Train Bond Act, to have the High Speed Rail Authority and the state’s Employment Development Department work together to do two things:

• Prepare a thorough, region-by-region labor assessment to determine the available and necessary labor skills for construction, operation and maintenance of a statewide high-speed rail system.
• Work with industry, labor representatives, and state employment training agencies to develop a strategy and make recommendations to marry available training programs with available in-state workers to enhance labor skills needed to develop high-speed rail in California.

Background

The high-speed rail project is the largest single transportation project undertaken in this country. It has a ten-year construction period, during which some 600,000 people will be employed to construct, maintain and operate the system. It’s a unique project involving full electrification of an 800-mile route running through California. The project will require the participation of a skilled workforce, including engineers, construction workers, welders, electricians, system operators, maintenance workers, and others. The High Speed Rail Authority wants to take steps now to ensure California can supply the workforce necessary to construct this project.

Read the Bill