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California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri kept his job Friday during a special meeting despite a call by Assembly Republican Leader Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, for him to lose it.
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Macedo wrote to Steve Kawa, the chair of the authority’s board, ahead of the meeting saying that Choudri had misused taxpayer money and abused public trust.
That followed an investigation by an oversight office which found the authority had allowed for hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel for consultants with little or no explanation of why it was necessary.
“At a time when California families face unbearable financial pressures to cover essential household needs including rent, utilities and transportation, the routine approval of improper consultant expenses represents a severe breach of fiduciary responsibility,” Macedo said in the letter.
Choudri, who became CEO in 2024, has had a rocky tenure leading the embattled agency that has become a frequent target of Republicans because of the rail project’s major delays and ballooning cost since voters in 2008 approved a bond program to help it get built. He was temporarily placed on leave earlier this year after police arrested him and his fiancée.
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Macedo, around the time of the arrest, also called for Choudri to be fired.
The authority’s board did not let him go but removed his ability to have sole discretion to sign off on certain contracts.
In a statement after the meeting, Macedo asked, “Where is the leadership? Where are the governor and attorney general? Out in the Central Valley, we have a name for this refusal to hold the CEO accountable: cow manure.”
The offices of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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The Bee Capitol Bureau’s Lia Russell contributed to this story.
This story was originally published October 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM.