Gov. Jerry Brown Charges CA Legislature to Fund High-Speed Rail
Compares controversial project to Panama Canal, BART and Interstate highways, saying they were all derided in their time
Governor Jerry Brown took ownership of California's controversial high-speed-rail project on Wednesday in his State of the State speech, forcefully defending the plan that has received blistering bipartisan criticism in recent weeks.
Brown likened the project to massive infrastructure advances of past decades, including the building of the Panama Canal, BART and the interstate highway system - all of which he said were derided in their time - and he called on the Legislature to approve several billion dollars in funding for the first phase of construction "without any hesitation."
