ARRA Funds Deadline

[Ben]

Do the FRA ARRA funds stipulate that the entire Initial Operating Segment for the California high-speed rail project has to be completed by September 30, 2017, or does it stipulate that the funds only need to be expended by then?

 

[Anderson]

I think the funds need to be expended by then...but that's a good question, since CA is funding about 2/3 of this phase of the project, IIRC.

 

[afigg]

Do the FRA ARRA funds stipulate that the entire Initial Operating Segment for the California high-speed rail project has to be completed by September 30, 2017, or does it stipulate that the funds only need to be expended by then?

The federal ARRA stimulus funds have to be expended by then, that's all. No legislative requirement that the work results is an operational improvement by then, other than possible regulatory considerations, but the FRA presumably has a fair amount of latitude in that area. The September 2017 deadline only applies to the $8 billion in ARRA HSIPR funds, not the $2.1 billion in FY2010 funds which don't have a deadline.

Checking the HSIPR obligation list, $2.55 billion of the funds provided to CA HSR are ARRA funds, another $715 million is FY2010 funds. I read somewhere that the CHSRA plans to expend the ARRA funds first for the contract payments, then use up the FY2010 federal and the state bond funding. If it was not for the September 2017 deadline, I bet there would be no ground breaking or start of construction this year, but the project would remain in the study and alternative analysis stages for several more years.

 

[Ben]

So how much more of a delay is allowed for start of construction before the project risks losing federal funding? Would it lose both the $2.55 billion ARRA and $715 million FY 2010 funding or just the ARRA?

 

[leemell]

Do the FRA ARRA funds stipulate that the entire Initial Operating Segment for the California high-speed rail project has to be completed by September 30, 2017, or does it stipulate that the funds only need to be expended by then?

The federal ARRA stimulus funds have to be expended by then, that's all. No legislative requirement that the work results is an operational improvement by then, other than possible regulatory considerations, but the FRA presumably has a fair amount of latitude in that area. The September 2017 deadline only applies to the $8 billion in ARRA HSIPR funds, not the $2.1 billion in FY2010 funds which don't have a deadline.

Checking the HSIPR obligation list, $2.55 billion of the funds provided to CA HSR are ARRA funds, another $715 million is FY2010 funds. I read somewhere that the CHSRA plans to expend the ARRA funds first for the contract payments, then use up the FY2010 federal and the state bond funding. If it was not for the September 2017 deadline, I bet there would be no ground breaking or start of construction this year, but the project would remain in the study and alternative analysis stages for several more years.

I doubt that, the state bond money is available now and can be used at any time.