California's high-speed rail project is continuing despite legal rulings that have held up a large source of its revenue. Funding for the project, which has a current price tag of $68 billion, is supposed to come from the following sources:
— $8.6 billion remaining in voter-approved bonds. This money, which voters approved in 2008, is held up after a judge declined to grant a broad request to sell the remaining bonds. The state has tapped $700 million of the $9.9 billion approved by voters to date, about $400 million of it directly for high-speed rail.
— $3.6 billion in federal matching funds. High-speed rail officials are tapping this funding while the state bond money is tied up in court as part of a revised agreement that allows the state to spend the federal money first.
— Gov Jerry Brown wants to take $250 million from California's cap-and-trade program and use it for high-speed rail planning.