California GOP lawmakers want High-Speed Rail Authority CEO to resign over spending practices

Assembly Minority Leader Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, wrote a public letter to the High-Speed Rail Authority calling on CEO Ian Choudri to resign following a report showing that California's taxpayers paid more than $1 million in travel reimbursements for the agency's contractors.

That's one of the latest expenses reported for a longtime project that the rail authority expects will ultimately cost more than $126.2 billion in taxpayers' money.

Plans call for Phase 1 to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles and, south of L.A., Anaheim. Phase 2 is to extend the rail north to Sacramento and south to San Diego.

The high-speed rail was supposed to be finished in 2020, but it does not appear that any track has been laid, according to previous reporting by The Center Square.

Macedo’s letter, which also calls for further accountability measures for the struggling agency to protect taxpayers’ money, follows a report from the rail authority’s inspector general showing that the agency improperly approved reimbursement expenses for contractors’ travel. Those costs included ride-share reimbursements to the gym, cigar lounges, escape rooms, private homes and even costs related to gas expenses for one contractor’s private jet on a flight between Washington, D.C. and California, according to the report.

“Mr. Choudri’s reign has been marked by a culture of disregard for state law, persistent financial mismanagement, lack of oversight and administrative abuses within the Authority,” Macedo wrote in her letter. “At a time when California families face unbearable financial pressures to cover essential household needs including rent, utilities and transportation, the routine approval of improper consultant expenses represents a severe breach of fiduciary responsibility.”

Macedo was not available for an interview before publication time on Tuesday. In addition, Choudri and other officials from the High-Speed Rail Authority did not make themselves available for an interview.

Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, responded briefly to The Center Square's request for comment Tuesday.

“I am monitoring the [High-Speed Rail Authority’s] actions,” Cortese told The Center Square. “They seem to be moving in the right direction.”

Macedo's latest letter follows another Sept. 22 letter from Republican politicians asking for California Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the High-Speed Rail Authority after the authority's inspector general's report showed that $1.152 million of California taxpayers’ money were paid to four contractors for travel expenses. Bonta did not respond to The Center Square's request for comment.

According to previous reporting by The Center Square, the High-Speed Rail Authority approved $680,500 of taxpayer funds for travel that did not have prior approval, and an additional $543,400 was paid to contractors for out-of-state and international travel, and were not allowed under contract terms.

Despite the High Speed Rail Authority’s own inspector general substantiating the allegations of improper contractor reimbursement payments, advocates of high-speed rail told The Center Square on Tuesday that they believed the inspector general’s most recent report was essentially a “hit job.”

“It’s time for the Legislature to get serious about getting this project done,” said Rick Harnish, executive director of the nonprofit High Speed Rail Alliance.

“The key issue is the Legislature hasn’t funded even the first phase," Harnish told The Center Square. "So they’re blaming the authority for not building the first phase when they haven’t funded the first phase, so it’s time for Sacramento to get serious and actually get it built.”

According to the 2026-27 budget passed this year, $13 billion has already been paid by California’s taxpayers and the state’s cap-and-invest program for the High-Speed Rail project. The budget this year includes $1 billion of funding for the high-speed rail from the state’s cap-and-invest program, which comes from money paid by the state’s biggest polluters. As mentioned previously, the total cost of the rail after it's completed, including both phases 1 and 2, is projected to be $126.2 billion.

Approximately $4.2 billion was included in this year’s budget from Proposition 1A, the bond California voters approved in 2008 for construction of the High-Speed Rail. That bond measure approved $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds to build it, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

In the latest board meeting for the High-Speed Rail Authority, officials gave a presentation on actions the agency is implementing to comply with the inspector general’s recommendations. This included using a uniform travel request form for contractors to use, adopting a new policy directing contractors about what constitutes necessary travel and ensuring travel is approved beforehand, among other corrective actions.

“These improvements and savings position the authority to pursue innovative financing and diversified funding strategies that will maximize the project’s long‑term economic benefits to the state,” Choudri said at the most recent board meeting.