---
type: "Bill"
title: "High-speed rail."
description: "Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority with specified powers and duties relating to the development and implementation of an intercity high-speed rail system. Existing law, pursuant to the Safe, Reliable, High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, authorizes $9,950,000,000 in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail development and other related purposes. Existing law appropriates specified funds from the High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Fund and from federal funds for high-speed rail and connecting rail projects."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "SB 557"
citation: "California SB 557 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["High-speed rail."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hill"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 23
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2013-02-22"
last_action: "2013-09-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/23675979-ee89-4e4c-983e-245ac4013c4b"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB557"
source_hash: "e0f132e584e44bcb1b33777982b564fcd972c2fad1ea8141321ce6ed663974cf"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 557 (20132014) — High-speed rail.

Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority with specified powers and duties relating to the development and implementation of an intercity high-speed rail system. Existing law, pursuant to the Safe, Reliable, High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, authorizes $9,950,000,000 in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail development and other related purposes. Existing law appropriates specified funds from the High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Fund and from federal funds for high-speed rail and connecting rail projects.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/22/13 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB557&version=20130SB55799INT)
2. **05/02/13 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB557&version=20130SB55798AMD)
3. **09/06/13 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB557&version=20130SB55796CHP)
4. **SB557** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB557)
5. **08/27/13 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB557&version=20130SB55797ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **30–5** (pass) · upper
- SB 557 Hill Senate Third Reading By MULLIN — **54–24** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **13–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **13–4** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **9–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Hill — primary (person)
- Gordon — coauthor (person)
- Mullin — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2013-02-22** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2013-02-23** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 25.
- **2013-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2013-03-11** Referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-04** Set for hearing April 23.
- **2013-04-23** Set, first hearing. Testimony taken. Further hearing to be set.
- **2013-04-25** Set for hearing April 30.
- **2013-05-01** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 1. Page 759.) (April 30). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2013-05-02** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2013-05-10** Set for hearing May 20.
- **2013-05-20** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2013-05-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-05-24** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 30. Noes 5. Page 1043.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-05-24** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2013-06-17** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2013-07-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 2.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2013-08-14** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 4.) (August 14). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2013-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-08-26** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 54. Noes 24. Page 2712.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-08-26** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2013-08-28** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2013-09-06** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2013-09-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 216, Statutes of 2013.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/23675979-ee89-4e4c-983e-245ac4013c4b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).