Los Angeles Times, 7/30:
New political and legal battle is shaping up for California bullet train
A seemingly obscure, two-sentence piece of state legislation is demonstrating the still unsettled political and legal foundations of California's troubled bullet train project.
Supporters of the legislation say they simply want to “clarify” highly technical wording of taxpayer protections written into the $9 billion bond that voters approved for high-speed rail in 2008 — part of an effort to avert lawsuits over spending some of the bond money to upgrade a Bay Area commuter rail system.
But rail opponents say the move is a direct attempt to gut taxpayer protections and have vowed to sue over the legislation, potentially stalling the project further.
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