Newsom's High Speed Rail Oversight Gamble The proposed veto of Assembly Bill 1608 has all the makings of a classic California bureaucratic snafu.
The bill would grant essential tools to the High Speed Rail Authority's independent watchdog, but Governor Gavin Newsom's administration is quietly enacting parts of it through a budget trailer bill while threatening to veto the remaining provisions.
Ben Belnap, the state's independent watchdog appointed by Newsom in 2023, has been clear about what he needs: purchase authority and job classifications that would allow him to effectively oversee the High Speed Rail Authority.