Texas High-Speed Rail Transparency Bill Passes Legislature: New Requirements for Dallas-Houston Project Disclosure
AUSTIN, Texas (Covering Katy News) – Property owners are celebrating the passage of groundbreaking legislation that will mandate greater transparency from high-speed rail projects across Texas, specifically targeting the controversial Dallas-Houston rail proposal that has faced years of opposition from affected communities.
The landmark transparency legislation has successfully passed both chambers of the Texas Legislature, marking a significant victory for private property rights advocates.
On May 19, the Texas Senate voted to approve House Bill (HB) 2003, authored by Rep. Cody Harris (R-Palestine) and sponsored by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) on both second and third reading. The transparency measure passed decisively with a 23 to 8 vote.
The new high-speed rail accountability bill would require any project under the Texas Rail Plan to submit comprehensive annual financial and operational disclosures to the Texas Department of Transportation, including: proposed financing methods and availability, recent balance sheets, estimated full project costs, annual construction expenses, completion timelines, ridership forecasts, proposed routes, organizational structure, and any foreign investment details.
HB 2003 achieved unanimous support in the Texas House on April 25, passing with a remarkable 127 to 0 vote, demonstrating bipartisan backing for increased rail project transparency.
During Texas Senate floor debates, Kolkhorst highlighted that the Dallas-to-Houston Texas Central high-speed rail project has been under development for a decade with "little progress." She noted that property owners along the proposed route have received eminent domain notices but struggle to know the true status of the project.
Kolkhorst, whose legislative district encompasses several counties directly impacted by the proposed bullet train project, emphasized that affected property owners deserve the transparency protections outlined in HB 2003.
Texans Against High-Speed Rail (TAHSR), a leading advocacy organization opposing the Dallas-Houston rail project, expressed strong support for the bill's passage through both legislative chambers.
The grassroots organization praised both Harris and Kolkhorst for their legislative efforts in advancing HB 2003.
"These two are steadfast supporters of private property rights and have been stalwarts in the decade-long fight against the negative impacts experienced by landowners and taxpayers as a result of the Dallas to Houston [high-speed rail] proposal," the group wrote on social media.
"As we have seen this session and all those before, any amount of sunlight reflects the awful realities of this project. We welcome the sunlight," TAHSR added.
However, the Texas Central Railway project faced opposition to the transparency requirements. Andy Gent, representing primary investor John Kleinheinz, testified against the bill during House Transportation Committee hearings, arguing that the disclosure requirements duplicated federal regulatory oversight, involved confidential proprietary information, and could deter private investment in Texas infrastructure projects.
Gent argued that Surface Transportation Board (STB) applications already require disclosure of essentially the same information mandated by HB 2003.
The investor representative attempted to reassure lawmakers that project backers would only proceed if the high-speed rail venture proved viable, claiming that without the COVID-19 pandemic disruption in 2020, construction would likely already be underway.
The Dallas-Houston rail project recently faced a major federal funding setback when U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on April 14 the termination of a $63.9 million grant previously awarded to Amtrak for the high-speed rail initiative.
"The Texas Central Railway project was proposed as a private venture. If the private sector believes this project is feasible, they should carry the pre-construction work forward, rather than relying on Amtrak and the American taxpayer to bail them out," Duffy said.
The Texas high-speed rail transparency legislation, HB 2003, now awaits Governor Greg Abbott's signature before taking effect, potentially establishing new accountability standards for major transportation infrastructure projects statewide.