Train Commission Rejects Bechtel Plan : Transportation: Panel members objected to a proposal that would allow the San Francisco firm to sell its high-speed train franchise rights.

Members of the bistate commission planning a high-speed train from Las Vegas to Anaheim on Friday rejected Bechtel Corp.’s proposed operating agreement and postponed further action until next month.

Meeting at a hotel here, members of the California-Nevada Super Speed Ground Transportation Commission objected to provisions in the proposed agreement that would allow Bechtel to sell its high-speed train franchise rights to others, said Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth, who is the commission chairman.

Roth said Bechtel, which was awarded a conditional franchise last year to build and operate the 270-m.p.h. train, was told to rewrite the agreement and present it again next month.

At the same time, Roth said, the commission decided to “sit tight” and explore options for financing the project, which under current legislation is barred from using public funds.

Roth said other options include taking advantage of pending federal legislation that would allow the issuance of tax-free bonds to finance magnetically levitated train projects. Other legislation also may allow the use of federal loan guarantees.

In a related development, Roth said that Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) apparently is going to replace Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Richard Katz (D-Panorama City) on the 16-member panel. Katz brought Umberg to the meeting in Ontario on Friday, and Umberg is now carrying legislation that would extend the life of the bistate commission another two years past Dec. 31, when its authority would otherwise end.

Katz, whose legislation four years ago created the bistate commission, charged this week that Bechtel is stalling on the train project by failing to use its own vast corporate resources for environmental and design work while waiting for a big financial backer to step forward. The Japanese firm C. Itoh recently backed out of the project, citing world economic problems.

Roth said that Katz wants off the commission because he is gearing up to run for mayor of Los Angeles and that Katz will ask Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) to replace him with Umberg.

Such action would give Orange County two votes on the commission, which is made up of representatives from various governmental bodies both in California and Nevada.

Earlier this year, San Francisco-based Bechtel said the slow economy and other problems would delay construction of the $5-billion rail line for five years.