High-speed rail.

(1) Existing law, the California High-Speed Rail Act, creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state, with specified powers and duties. Existing law, pursuant to the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, approved by the voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008, general election, provides for the issuance of $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail and related purposes. Existing law provides for appointment of an executive director by the authority, who is exempt from civil service and serves at the pleasure of the authority. This bill, for purposes of managing and administering the ongoing work of the authority in implementing the high-speed train project, would authorize the Governor, upon the recommendation of the executive director, to appoint up to 6 additional authority officers, exempt from civil service, who would serve in specified positions at the pleasure of the executive director. The bill would require a salary survey to be conducted to determine the compensation for the executive director and additional exempt officers, and would require the salaries to be established by the authority and approved by the Department of Personnel Administration. (2) Existing law requires the High-Speed Rail Authority to establish an independent peer review group for the purpose of reviewing the authority's plans and issuing analyses of the authority's assumptions and the authority's funding plan for each corridor. Existing law requires the peer review group to consist of persons meeting specified requirements and to be designated by certain public officers. This bill would require the initial designations to the peer group to be made by January 1, 2012. The bill would require the peer review group to designate a chairperson and would require the authority to designate a member of its staff to serve as a liaison to the peer review group. The bill would require members of the peer review group to receive specified per diem compensation and reimbursement for travel expenses. The bill would require the authority to provide a specified progress report to the Legislature commencing March 1, 2012, and biennially thereafter. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.