Florida Legislature Backs Rail Deal

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

TALLAHASSEE | Ending a struggle that stretched over two years, Florida lawmakers Tuesday endorsed a commuter train for Central Florida, agreed to pay more for commuter rail service in South Florida and potentially improved the state’s chances of winning federal funding for high-speed rail.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who personally lobbied lawmakers on the legislation (HB1), called the outcome of the special session “a brave and historic step to transform Florida’s future – not only as it relates to transportation in our state, but also for the employment and economic opportunity of our people.”

But critics continued to warn that the state was paying too much to CSX Transportation for the 61-mile commuter line in the Orlando area – more than $10 million per track mile – while also providing the private company with a “no-fault” policy for accidents on the rail line.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t do a better job for the people of the state,” said Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who led the two-year fight against the SunRail commuter system that will run through the middle of the Orlando metropolitan area. “This is one you can’t undo. You’ve rung the bell. You sell the track. The liability will be in perpetuity. And that’s very unfortunate.”

The SunRail debate is of interest in Lakeland because, if passed, it would likely result in rerouting more CSX freight trains through the city. More trains would be directed through downtown Lakeland to divert them from the Orlando-area commuter line.

But proponents said the bill help establish a statewide rail policy, while providing projects that could mean more jobs in a state with some 1 million unemployed residents.

“It signals the beginning of a new era for transportation in Florida,” said state Rep. Gary Aubuchon, R-Cape Coral, who was the chief architect of the House legislation.

U.S. Sen. George Lemieux, R-Florida, said the legislative commitment to rail projects will “greatly improve” the state’s chances for winning $2.5 billion in federal funding for a high-speed train between Tampa and Orlando.

“A high-speed rail corridor will put Floridians to work. It will drive economic development and create new mega-corridors of activity beneficial to our state,” Lemieux said in a statement.

The key vote came late Tuesday afternoon in the Senate – which had killed a SunRail bill twice in the last two years – when senators backed the bill in a 27-10 vote, after labor union lobbyists announced that they had reached an agreement with state transportation officials over job protections for their workers in the SunRail and Tri-Rail commuter systems.

In the end, seven Republicans opposed the bill and only three Democrats.

AFL-CIO officials, who had strongly opposed the bill, said they got enough assurances from the state Department of Transportation to drop their opposition. “We didn’t want to stand in the way of it,” said Rich Templin, a spokesman for the union.

The floor vote came after the bill barely cleared two Senate committees – each by one-vote margins – earlier in the day.

One of the most heavily debated provisions will provide CSX, which will still run its freight trains on the SunRail line, with a “no-fault” policy on accidents on the line.

Instead, the state will accept the responsibility and cover accidents with a $200 million insurance policy, which provides that CSX would have to pay up to $10 million in the most negligent accidents.

“We are adopting very bad public policy,” said Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, who voted against the bill. She said the no-fault provision would mean rail companies “cannot be held responsible for their own bad behavior.”

But an amendment that would have removed the no-fault provisions from the bill died in a 15-23 vote on the Senate floor.

Other senators said they were supporting the bill because it would provide an additional $15 million a year to Tri-Rail, the financially struggling commuter rail line in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Other supporters cited the potential for SunRail, Tri-Rail and a high-speed rail line to provide more jobs for the state – with some estimating thousands of new jobs could be generated.

Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, who opposed a SunRail bill last spring, said she was supporting the new bill based on the promises the promoters have made about jobs and improved transportation.

“I’m going to trust that this bill is what it pretends to be,” she said.

“The more cars we get off the road, the better we are,” Detert said. “This rail deal might not ever pay for itself. But I’m hoping that it’s going to help the 1 million Floridians who are unemployed today.”

Dockery and other opponents warned the rail legislation was creating a costly new commuter system that would need state and local subsidies to exist because of low ridership projections.

“Let’s make sure we’re not diverting those monies to a train that we cannot afford and that people aren’t going to ride,” Dockery said.

 For more information, contact Lloyd Dunkelberger at The Ledger.