High-Speed Rail Authority reports $4.6 billion cash position; $20.5 million in change orders

The California High‑Speed Rail Authority’s Finance and Audit Committee heard a financial briefing in May showing the authority’s total cash position at about $4.6 billion and nine executed change orders totaling $20.5 million.

The briefing, presented by the authority’s chief financial officer, said the reported cash balance includes $671 million in Proposition 1A bond funds, about $3.7 billion in cap‑and‑trade funds and $13 million in the property management fund. “This balance for our cap and trade does not yet include the $212,000,000 that's allocated to us from the February 2025 auction. And we should see that within a month or 2,” the CFO said.

The nut graf: The committee’s financial update outlines how current cash and funding sources are being directed to advance the early operating segment between Merced and Bakersfield and to continue project development work required under the authority’s federal grant obligations. The update also flagged items that could affect near‑term spending and schedule, including a concentration of invoice disputes tied to one contractor and planned increases in capital outlays.

The CFO reported no late payments on invoices for the period and said disputes rose by roughly 15% from the prior reporting period; the vast majority—about 98.6%—were associated with a single contractor and related primarily to unexecuted change orders and time‑impact claims. The committee was shown that capital outlays for the reporting period totaled roughly $85 million, bringing year‑to‑date capital expenditures to about $900 million through the reporting period (described as 67% of the fiscal year).

On funding composition, the presentation noted that to date roughly 81.6% of expenditures recorded in the cited chart were state funded and 18.4% federal funded; total available project funding shown in the presentation remained about $29.5 billion, with 77% state and 23% federal. The CFO said the next month’s materials will split out Prop 1A, cap‑and‑trade and other state funding more granularly.

Contracting and small‑business metrics were updated: the authority reported two added active contracts for a total of 204 active contracts with an overall value shown as about $12.4 billion. Staff reported 899 small businesses working on the project, including figures the presentation labeled as 311 DBEs and 112 certified DBEs, and noted the authority is transitioning to a new small‑business utilization goal structure. The presentation said the authority is slightly below target on small‑business and disadvantaged‑business goals under the old reporting structure and above target for disabled‑veteran–owned businesses.

On contingency and change orders, the report said nine change orders executed during the period totaled $20.5 million, of which six were for construction package 2–3 and three were for construction package 1; the presentation said there were no change orders above $25 million for the period. When asked for details, staff said the Central Valley status update will include a line‑item breakdown of the change orders.

Looking ahead, staff projected a significant month‑to‑month increase in reported capital expenditures for the March data period—about $150.8 million, a 77% increase over the current reporting period—and said the authority’s vacancy rate moved down to roughly 23.4% as recruitments proceed. On federal grants, the CFO said there was nothing new to report on additional awards and that the authority has a pending grant application to advance geotechnical and design work toward the Pacheco and Tehachapi tunnels.

Discussion at the meeting included questions about what items are driving reported costs in design‑build packages and the monthly range of payments to project construction manager firms; staff said PCMs range roughly $4–5 million per month and that some month‑to‑month variation in construction expenditures is expected as work phases advance.

Formal actions: The committee approved the minutes of the March 6, 2025 committee meeting after a motion and second; the motion passed unanimously. No other formal votes were taken during the financial briefing.

The report concluded with staff offering to provide additional detail in the Central Valley materials and future monthly reports.