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An Alamo resident is among seven new appointees across several state government agencies that were recently announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom, with Peter Whippy set for a new role with the state’s high speed rail authority.
Whippy was announced as the California High Speed Rail Authority’s chief of external affairs on Jan. 6, following several years of service as a communications director for the U.S. Committee on House Administration from 2019 to 2023, having previously served as the body’s Democratic communications director from 2017 to 2019 and a tenure in the same position with the office of Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Mateo).
Although the prospect of a high-speed rail line in California – which would be the first in the United States – has gained momentum in recent years, bolstered by $3.1 billion in federal funding in 2023 and hundreds of millions in grant funding prior to that, it’s a project that has been decades in the making.
The state first floated the idea of a high speed rail corridor in southern California in 1981, which was followed years later by the High-Speed Rail Development Act of 1994 that identified California as one of five potential corridors in the nation suitable for high-speed rail planning. It was followed by the creation of a high-speed rail commission for the purposes of determining the feasibility of high-speed rail in California – which the commission deemed to be feasible in 1996.
The State Legislature then created the California High Speed Rail Authority the same year, which was bolstered by a $9.95 billion bond measure passed by voters in 2008 to finance the proposed high-speed rail system, marking the “first ever voter-approved financing mechanism for high speed rail” according to the CHSRA’s website.
Presently, the authority oversees 119 miles of active construction on planned high-speed rail systems in the Central Valley, and has environmental clearance on 422 miles out of the planned 500 miles for the first phase of the system from San Francisco to Los angeles.
In addition to reducing travel times and facilitating connections between major portions of the state, the authority touts the environmental benefits of the planned system, which would run on zero-emission trans powered by 100% renewable energy, prevent a projected 3,5000 tons of pollutants out of the atmosphere annually, along with restoration and energy offset measures aimed at balancing out construction impacts.
On the same day he announced Whippy’s appointment to the authority, Newsom and the authority’s CEO Ian Choudri celebrated the official start of the agency’s railhead project in central California “commemorating the first steps in the track and systems construction process,” according to a Jan. 6 press release from the authority.
“No state in America is closer to launching high-speed rail than California – and today, we just took a massive step forward,” Newsom said in the CHSRA press release. “We’re moving into the track-laying phase, completing structures for key segments, and laying the groundwork for a high-speed rail network. The future of transportation is being realized right here in the Central Valley with thousands of good paying jobs already created and 171 miles being worked on. As only California can, we’re building America’s biggest infrastructure project.”
Whippy’s appointment was one of several announced by Newsom on Jan. 6, the remainder of which are to the State Water Resources Control Board, the California Water Commission, and the California Exposition and State Fair Board of Director. All of the appointments except for Whippy’s are subject to senate confirmation.
Whippy’s compensation for the new role is set at $170,004.
