Could California’s Bullet Train Head Back to the Voters?

Gov. Jerry Brown shows no sign
of coming to his senses on building a high-speed train running
through California’s heartland, now hoping to use
cap-and-trade revenue to pay for a project that cannot find any
money elsewhere beyond a relatively small federal (though still in
billions) grant.

So a California assemblyman is having another go at trying to
put the bullet train back on the ballot (an initiative in 2008
originally authorized it) to see if the voters will finally shut it
down. The Sacramento Bee
reports:

For the second time in less than two years, a California
lawmaker has filed proposed ballot language to put the brakes on
California’s high-speed rail project.

Assemblyman Jeff Gorell submitted paperwork Friday to qualify
the Stop the $100 Billion High Speed Rail and Reinvest in Education
Act. The proposed November ballot measure is largely identical to
the Stop the $100 Billion Bullet Train to Nowhere Act submitted by
then-state Sen. Doug La Malfa and former Rep. George Radanovich in
March 2012, which failed to qualify.

Gorell, though, is running for Congress this fall, the
Bee notes, so he probably won’t be able to lead the charge
for this one. If somebody else takes the helm for this effort,
they’re going to have to get more than 500,000 signatures to get it
back on the ballots.