A coalition of unions and rail advocates is pushing Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders to protect funding earmarked for California’s high-speed rail project and climate programs. Those programs are at risk of being defunded due to changes to the state’s emissions trading program.
What happened: More than 30 labor, rail and public transit groups signed a letter — written by the U.S. High Speed Rail Coalition and shared exclusively with POLITICO — that calls on the state to maintain an agreement reached last year to set aside $1 billion in annual cap-and-invest revenues for the state’s high-speed rail project.
The group of signatories, which includes the powerful State Building and Construction Trades Council, also asked lawmakers to fully fund public transit and affordable housing programs that may face reduced funding because of cap-and-invest amendments that the California Air Resources Board finalized earlier this year.
Why it matters: The letter inserts labor unions into the fight over the state’s main pot of climate dollars, known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
