Legislature Approves California High Speed Rail Bill

The State Legislature approved a bill this week that requires companies seeking contracts to build California’s High Speed Rail to publicly disclose their involvement in World War II concentration camp deportations. Assembly Bill 619, or the Holocaust Survivor Responsibility Act, was authored by Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley. The bill passed the Assembly with a 50-7 vote and was sent to the governor, who has until Sept. 30 to act on it. Beside disclosing involvement in the deportations, companies bidding for the contracts would be required under the bill to provide descriptions of any remedial action or restitution they made to survivors or families of victims. “Any company that participated in mass genocide, and failed to take responsibility for it in the decades since then, should be made to disclose this fact before being considered for a contract on the largest public works project in California history,” Blumenfield said. The bill was introduced after it was discovered that a potential bidder, French rail company Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais, was paid by Nazis to transport victims to concentration camps during the Halocaust. The company had not made restitution to survivors or had been held accountable in a court of law. The High Speed Rail Authority will begin awarding contracts for the design, construction and operation of the train system in 2011. The rail is designed to transport passengers between Northern and Southern California in less than three hours.