The Florida Senate is poised to take a final vote on a rail bill approved by the House yesterday after less than two hours of debate.

The measure faced fierce opposition in the Senate but a last-minute deal cut by the AFL-CIO, the Department of Transportation and Tri-Rail cleared the way for its passage.

Leaders of the union, which has 500,000 members, had strenuously objected to the measure throughout the special session because, they said, it created a policy that would have had a negative impact on the state’s 7,000 railroad workers.

But the deal preserved up to 184 jobs for employees of CSX Inc. who work on Tri-Rail and what will become SunRail.

The deal combined with up to $15 million included in the measure for Tri-Rail is likely to sway some Democrats who had planned to vote against the measure.

Lawmakers had given themselves until Friday to finish up the special rail session.

The Senate did not make any changes to the House bill so once it passes it will go directly to Gov. Charlie Crist, a proponent of the proposal who will sign it into law.

A last-minute deal between the AFL-CIO, Tri-Rail and state transportation officials has satisfied union leaders that their workers won’t be laid off under a bill now being debated in the Senate.

The union had opposed the measure, which the House passed easily yesterday.

The labor issue posed a threat to its passage in the Republican-dominated Senate despite the support of GOP leaders including Senate President Jeff Atwater.

The Senate could take a final vote on the measure as early as this evening.

The side deal means that the Senate is poised to pass the same bill the House approved by an 84-25 vote yesterday. Once passed by the Senate, it goes to Gov. Charlie Crist – one of its biggest supporters – for final approval.

State Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, is in Tallahassee for the first time since lawmakers were called to the Capitol for a special session on rail issues. Aronberg was excused last week for a previously-scheduled public meeting in Glades County. He asked for Monday off because of “events in the district that I need to attend.”

Included on his calendar yesterday: A fundraiser for his Attorney General campaign.

See his requests here.

The Florida Senate is scheduled to open floor debate on their special session bill today at 1:45 p.m. Senate President Jeff Atwater and his top lieutenant, Alex Diaz de la Portilla, are hoping to secure enough support to hold a formal vote this afternoon. So far, the bill has barely managed to survive three Senate committee votes in the past 24 hours.

Their main roadblock is Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who has led the opposition for two straight years.

As of yesterday, Dockery said she hadn’t counted votes for two weeks, when she was sure she had enough votes to defeat the bill for a third straight time. But rarely do legislative leaders call a session without having enough support. Which brings us to a question…

Our Jennifer Sorentrue reports that Palm Beach County commissioners this morning approved a one-year moratorium on approving new pain-management clinics amid concerns that drugs are being dispensed with insufficient controls.

A recent Palm Beach Post investigation found that more than 30 such clinics have opened in the county since 2007. Among the people running pain businesses are convicted drug dealers, serial criminals and former addicts, according to a review of county, state and federal records.

Libertarian commission candidate Karl Dickey blasted this morning’s 6-0 vote, saying commissioners are “punishing the many for the actions of a few. Whereas we understand some pain-management clinics have abused the system, it is outrageous for the county government to ban the ability of legitimate clinics from opening.”

Dickey is the only announced challenger to Republican Commissioner Steven Abrams.

Read Dickey’s entire statement after the jump…..

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The rail bill that is the subject of the special session squeaked out of three Senate committees and is headed to the Senate floor this afternoon where its fate remains in doubt.

The Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee approved the measure by a 4-2 vote. Sen. Chris Smith, a Democrat from Ft. Lauderdale, cast the crucial vote in favor of the measure allowing it to pass out of its final committee and head to the floor for debate this afternoon.

The House easily approved the measure – backed by GOP leaders including Gov. Charlie Crist and Senate President Jeff Atwater – yesterday. The Senate is expected to vote it tomorrow.

Two contentious issues remain in the measure. The AFL-CIO says it would reclassify railroad workers to transit workers and the workers would lose federal job protections that they say make trains safer.

And language in the bill dealing with who would pay for accidents – taxpayers or transportation giant CSX Inc. – on a proposed commuter line that would be shared by the state and CSX is also causing angst for some senators.

Two committees passed the bill earlier by 5-4 votes thanks to some committee changes ordered by Atwater, R-North Palm Beach.

Atwater pulled Sen. Ronda Storms, a Valrico Republican and fierce opponent of the SunRail measure included in the bill, off the committee in October. Had Storms remained on the panel, Smith’s vote would again have been the tie-breaker.

The Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly passed a rail bill that the House easily approved yesterday but for the third time faces a serious challenge in the Senate.

As in its first committee yesterday, the bill passed by a 5-4 vote.

Contentious testimony this morning centered on the controversial “SunRail” Central Florida commuter rail deal in which the state will pay Jacksonville-based CSX Inc. $641 million for 61 miles of track from Deland to Poinciana. The transportation giant would be able to continue to operate its freight on the line in exchange for a $1 a year payment to the state.

Who would pay for accidents on the line was the heart of the debate in the committee this morning.

The proposal would cap liability for CSX – even if freight operator is at fault – at $10 million. The state would be on the hook for the rest of the damages, which have run into hundreds of millions of dollars in other states.

Why wouldn’t Florida do the same as some other states that make freight operators liable for criminal negligence, Sen. Dan Gelber, a lawyer, asked committee Chairman Joe Negron.

“It’s because of pleading requirements and other issues that arise in indemnification agreements we’ve made the choice that we’ve made,” Negron, R-Stuart, said.

Gelber wasn’t satisfied.

“What we’re really doing in this is we’re allowing a private company to insure itself for criminal misconduct, for wanton misconduct, for gross negligence, for gross recklessness which nowhere else in Florida have we ever done. We’ve never done that by statute. So this is a major move,” said Gelber, D-Miami Beach, who was on the losing side of the vote.

The measure is now being heard in the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, where it is also expected to pass.

The Senate will debate the bill on the floor this afternoon.

Florida House budget Chairman David Rivera may have violated a fund-raising ban during a legislative session by passing out envelopes with suggestions for donations Friday at a campaign event.

“It’s pushing it,” House Rules Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said when asked whether candidates could ask that donations be mailed after the session. “There is a moratorium on fund-raising during session, and that includes solicitation.”

Rivera said he broke no rules and denies there were fund-raising envelopes at the event. “I had a meet-and-greet, but not a fund-raiser,” he said.

Read further.

Could a special session bill that few people can easily explain help launch a gubernatorial campaign? That’s what state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, is hoping.

The veteran lawmaker, who announced her underdog campaign last month, is in the spotlight this week in Tallahassee, as she attempts to topple her Republican leadership for a third straight time on railroad issues.

Dockery has consistently derailed plans from Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and Gov. Charlie Crist for a Central Florida commuter line known as SunRail.

Now she’s attempting to use the issue to capitalize on the anti-tax “Tea Party” movement that has helped buoy Republican Marco Rubio’s insurgent U.S. Senate campaign against Crist. Dockery is hoping to unhinge the campaign of Attorney General Bill McCollum, the favorite to win the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

More here.

Updating the news from this morning that Republican Gov. Charlie Crist wanted to meet in his office with the four Republican swing votes on the special session bill…

Turns out he could only get three, including Dennis Jones of Seminole who says he initiated the meeting to talk about some local college appointments. That means the fourth Republican either declined to meet with the governor or refused to clear his or her schedule.

Meanwhile, Crist got good news from at least two of the lawmakers: Jones says he’ll change his vote from ‘No’ to ‘Yes’ if leaders can show there are no general revenue dollars in the proposal and that the rail lines will benefit the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority.

Nancy Detert of Sarasota told Crist she’s already planning to change from ‘No’ to ‘Yes’.

“If it’s part of a huge rail piece where we can access federal dollars and use that money to put people back to work, and to put rail all across the state as we’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t afford then I am a ‘Yes,’” Detert said.

“If we cannot access federal funds then it changes the game.”

The third Republican, Durell Peaden of Crestview, said he was firmly against it, noting that it would be difficult for him to run for any Panhandle office if he supported the bill.

“The people in my area think we need more asphalt,” he said.

An error in St. Lucie County Property Appraiser Jeff Furst’s database caused confusion over whether the state ever took title to a $14 million building it owns in Ft. Pierce.

Furst told a Senate committee this morning that his records showed the state had never transferred the title from the City of Ft. Pierce, which gave the land to the state in 1988.

The state actually took ownership of the property in 1989, according to the Department of Management Services.

Senate budget chief ordered DMS officials in January to create a database of all state-owned properties – more than 17,000 buildings – so lawmakers could consolidate workers and possibly save money on expensive leases.

DMS has not been able to do that yet and wants to hire a private vendor to help create the database.

Furst told Alexander’s Ways and Means Committee that the task should be simple: all of the state’s 67 property appraisers submit a list of all the properties – including those owned by the state – and their values to the Department of Revenue each year.

Furst’s records should be updated tonight to show that the state has taken ownership of the building, DMS spokeswoman Linda McDonald said.

“This is a good example of why this is a big important job because different databases need to be kept up to date,” she said. “We want you and your readers to understand that we have always known where of our buildings are. That’s never been the issue. The issue has been getting this complete data set that provides valuation for those properties.”

A sweeping rail bill narrowly passed its first committee in the Senate by a 5-4 vote after being approved by the House earlier today.

The Senate Transportation Committee approved the measure after two hours of testimony and questions and a lot of distancing by Senate sponsor Jeremy Ring on what the bill is not about.

It’s not about SunRail, he repeatedly asserted. SunRail is the controversial Central Florida commuter rail project that the Senate failed to approve twice before, most recently in May.

It is unclear yet whether Ring has the votes in the Senate to pass the bill (HB 1). Republicans in the Senate are split over the bill in part because of the SunRail deal in which state transportation officials have already agreed to pay CSX Inc. $641 million for 61 miles of track around Orlando. In exchange, the transportation giant can continue to run its freight cars on the line for $1 a year.

A last-minute addition to the committee made Friday secured its passage.

Senate President Jeff Atwater placed Sen. Mike Fasano, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee and a SunRail supporter, on the committee late Friday to replace Sen. Larcenia Bullard, who was hospitalized.

Without Fasano’s “yes” vote today, the bill would have died.

Two more Senate committees will vote on the bill tomorrow before it goes to the floor for debate tomorrow afternoon.

In an odd twist, Rep. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, actually cast his first vote today before taking his oath in front of the House.

But Bernard’s swearing-in this morning was only ceremonial — he officially took office shortly after winning a special election to replace Priscilla Taylor, who resigned after Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to the Palm Beach County Commission.

Bernard addressed his new colleagues after taking the oath. Listen here.

A heated exchange took place in the Senate Democratic Caucus meeting this afternoon over the sweeping rail proposal that is the topic of the special session now underway.

Conspicuously absent from the meeting were representatives of the state Department of Transportation, responsible for a controversial $641 million deal with transportation giant CSX Inc.

A provision included in the bill that would allow state transportation officials to unlink union jobs from railroads has put the measure in jeopardy in the Senate.

A frustrated Sen. Tony Hill, a former longshoreman and union organizer, demanded that fellow Democrat Jeremy Ring, the bill’s Senate sponsor, fix the measure to ensure that union workers won’t lose their jobs.

“Get it right. Get it right. It’s your bill. Get it right,” Hill, D-Jacksonville, told Ring.

The bill is either all about jobs or has nothing to do with jobs, depending on who is talking and what day of the week it is.

About 138 Tri-Rail workers would get pink slips if the bill passes, union representatives say.

That’s not true, countered South Florida Regional Transportation Authority Chairman Jeff Koons, also a Palm Beach County Commissioner.

He claimed the only way Tri-Rail workers will be out of a job is if the controversial bill does not pass because the commuter rail system won’t get the extra $15 million a year included in the measure. Without that, he said, Tri-Rail won’t be able to run its full schedule.

“We are holding our nose. We are supporting this agreement,” Koons told the packed conference room.

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UPDATED: Crist’s schedule has been updated to included meetings today with Republican Sens. Durell Peaden of Crestview (12:55 p.m.), Nancy Detert of Venice (3:15 p.m.) and Dennis Jones of Seminole. (3:30 p.m.)

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist said he’s planning to meet with four state senators this afternoon – presumably all fellow Republicans – in hopes of securing a positive vote on the SunRail bill scheduled for a vote this week.

“I’m going to meet with some of them this afternoon and encourage them to do the right thing,” Crist said.

Crist wouldn’t define the meetings as arm twisting.

“I never describe it as arm twisting,” he said laughing. “Encouragement.”

Crist said he was “encouraged” by the House vote this morning.

“Strong vote,” he said. “That’s great. It’s great for jobs and that’s what this is really all about. We’re hopeful the Senate will follow suit.”

Asked about rumors that poor attendance will fuel a Jacksonville Jaguars move to Los Angeles, Gov. Charlie Crist said the team should draft Florida Gators QB Tim Tebow.

“I’ve actually talked to the ownership about that. I think it’d be great,” Crist told reporters. Crist also said the team owners thought it was “not a bad idea.”

“Well I hope they stay here, obviously,” Crist said. ” We’re certainly blessed to have the Buccaneers, the Dolphins and the Jaguars. And hopefully we’ll get the Cubs, too, for spring training. We’re working on that.

Asked about the Jaguars attendance, Crist said, “Hopefully it will get better next week.”

The Florida House today passed the special session bill, 84-25, aimed at expanding the state’s commuter railroad system. The bill now moves to the Senate.

House Speaker Larry Cretul noted the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate and told his members to “stay close” for a potential final vote at any moment before the Friday noon deadline.

“We really don’t know exactly what will happen in the Senate,” Cretul said.

While Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, scrambles to collect 21 votes in the 40-member Senate, a coalition of taxpayer groups are planning a noon press conference and 4 p.m. rally outside the Capitol to urge lawmakers to kill the projects. With Republican Sens. Paula Dockery, a Republican candidate for governor, and Rhonda Storms speaking at the events, it further highlights the problems the issue is causing Republicans.

In the House, most of the opposition came from Democrats and Miami-Dade Republicans, although the vote split party and geographical lines.

Opponents included Reps. Adam Fetterman, D-Port St. Lucie; Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach; and Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach.

The bill is targeted at winning $2.5 billion from the pot of federal stimulus money to build a high-speed rail system in the state. State lawmakers believe the best way to do that is to impress the feds with their commitment to a state rail system: the special session bill would earmark $15 million per year to subsidize the struggling South Florida Tri-Rail line and spend $432 million to buy 61 miles of track from CSX for a Central Florida commuter line, known as SunRail.

Some quotes from the House debate this morning:

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St. Lucie County Property Appraiser Jeff Furst wants to help out frustrated Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander who’s been trying to get a handle on how many buildings the state owns and where they are.

Furst told Alexander’s Ways and Means Committee this morning that he and each of the state’s 67 property appraisers already have a list of state-owned properties that they submit to the state Department of Revenue every year.

There are more than 800 state-owned properties worth at least $400 million in St. Lucie County, Furst told the committee. And that doesn’t include a parcel worth $14 million the state has owned for more than 20 years but never bothered to take title of.

The city of Ft. Pierce donated the land for the building to the state, Furst said. He was surprised to learn that it wasn’t included on the list of state-owned properties and discovered that state officials never took ownership of the property although the warranty deed and other documents were sent to them in 1988.

Alexander, a Lake Wales Republican whose district includes part of St. Lucie County, ordered Department of Management Services Secretary Linda South in January to come up with an inventory of the state’s real property. She hasn’t been able to do that yet. Instead, she wants to hire a private company to help find the missing buildings and create a database of them.

Property appraisers could create the database within 90 days, Furst said.

“Nobody will need anything other than some good cooperation and a state plan,” Furst said.

Management Services officials grabbed Furst after he testified and immediately set up a meeting with him to see what he could do to help them with their task, which Alexander put into state law.

The state is fully aware that it “owns” the building, which still shows up on the tax rolls as belonging to the city of Ft. Pierce. The building is fully occupied by state workers, DMS Chief of Staff Ken Granger said, and the state officials know they “own” it.

So state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, is remaining in the Senate District 27 race after some aggressive flirtation last week with the Senate District 30 contest.

But will the treadwear-testing Fort Myers-to-West Palm Beach district survive the 2012 redistricting?

Read about it in this week’s Politics column. Also, catch the latest on state House musical chairs, GOP Second Amendment love and Hal Valeche’s fence-mending with the Rooney family.

Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul called lawmakers to the Capitol last week to clear a path for high-speed rail. The move came six years after he cast a ballot to repeal a voter-approved mandate for high-speed rail.

From the campaign trail, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist condemns federal spending. In radio ads for his U.S. Senate race, he tells President Obama, “Enough is enough.”

But in Tallahassee, Crist is the leading supporter of the special session bill aimed at securing $2.5 billion in stimulus money for the state to build a bullet train. That money would be in addition to the $5.2 billion in stimulus funds propping up the state budget Crist approved in May.

“Anybody who wants to help us, we’re more than eager to accept it and to make sure that we put people before politics,” Crist said.

For Florida Republicans, who have controlled the state House, Senate and governor’s office since 1999, the federal stimulus plan has proven to be a thorny issue in a high-stakes political year that includes open races for U.S. Senate, governor and all three Cabinet jobs. Doubly so when it’s for the creation of public transportation, a campaign promise of Democratic President Obama’s and not a typical Republican issue.

“It’s hypocrisy,” designated House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders of Key West said. “They’re campaigning one way and governing another.”

Rest here.