Newsom’s High-Speed Rail Authority stuck taxpayers with improper consultant travel while California families struggle with the cost of housing, groceries and gas.
SACRAMENTO— Assembly Minority Leader Alexandra M. Macedo (R-Tulare) issued the following statement after today’s Inspector General report substantiated wasteful and unallowable travel reimbursements at the California High-Speed Rail Authority:
“California families are cutting back everywhere they can. Meanwhile, taxpayers were stuck with more than half a million dollars in improper travel expenses for private consultants, including first-class tickets, private plane travel and repeated premium Uber rides to and from a restaurant, a bar and a nightclub between 9:40 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.
Taxpayers also covered international flights and trips to tiki bars, gyms, escape rooms and cigar lounges.
Only in California could a project that is years late and billions over budget somehow find money for consultant rides to a cigar lounge.
The High-Speed Rail Authority’s answer is to partially fix the problem sometime next year. That is not good enough.
With his remaining time in office, Governor Newsom should make taxpayers whole and claw back every improper dollar.
Californians are already paying some of the highest costs in the country. They should not be forced to subsidize consultant lifestyles for a rail project that still has not laid a single mile of track.”
To review the report by the Inspector General, use the following link: https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Investigative-Report-2026-Allegations-of-Wasteful-and-Unallowable-Travel-Expenses-for-Contracted-Consultants-A11Y.pdf