Central Valley Farmers' Legal Efforts To Stop High-Speed Rail Plan Could Be Coming To An End
KINGS COUNTY (KCBS)— Central Valley farmers opposed to construction of California's high-speed rail may face their last legal stop this week. Attorneys will petition the State Supreme Court to halt the rail plan dead in its tracks.
Plaintiff's attorney Stuart Flashman said his clients want the rail plan stopped because they claim the state violated the terms of the voter-approved ballot measure back in 2008.
"One provision basically said that the High-Speed Rail Authority had to prepare a funding plan and present it to the legislature before they asked the legislature for money," Flashman said.
He said he hopes the State Supreme Court justices overturn an earlier appeals court ruling, which basically said the state got it right and the rail system can move forward.
Central Valley Farmers' Legal Efforts To Stop High-Speed Rail Plan Could Be Coming To An End
"There's 100 years of court precedents that says when you put a bond measure on ballots and it's approved by the voters, you've got to do what the voters said and you can't do anything the voters didn't say."
The brewing battle began with Central Valley farmers upset that the planned first leg of the rail system would run right through their properties.
"One of my clients is a farmer in Kings County and the high-speed rail project would run right through his land and cut it in half," Flashman said.
The High-Speed Rail Authority hopes to break ground on that first section of track sometime in 2015.
