Republican Gov. Charlie Crist said this morning he hopes to announce a special session dedicated to passenger rail issues by Thanksgiving. He described his ongoing negotiations with Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, over a potential December session as “hopefully optimistic.”

There’s a list of issues being hammered out, but at the top is finding money for South Florida’s cash-strapped Tri-Rail. Republicans are targeting a $2 fee on rental cars as the source and discussing whether to let county commissions approve the charge or require a referendum.

“That’s sort of one of the issues we’re dealing with,” Crist said.

Florida’s Republican leaders believe they need to settle funding issues for Tri-Rail and a host of insurance and money issues for a proposed Central Florida line known as SunRail before the state has any chance at securing $2.5 billion in federal stimulus money for an Orlando-Tampa bullet train.

“That - in terms of job creation, in terms of alternative transportation arteries for our fellow Floridians — is incredibly important,” Crist said of the stimulus money. “And I would really hate to see that opportunity lost.”

Some background on the issue here.

From the letter sent to Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday from U.S. House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn.

Florida is falling behind other states in putting to work its Recovery Act highway formula funds. … I strongly urge you to refocus your efforts to implement the Recovery Act and use available funds to create and sustain family-wage jobs.

Read the full letter here.

President Barack Obama today marked the 100th day of the stimulus package by releasing “100 Days, 100 Projects,” a report that highlights progress of the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Here are the Florida projects included in the report:

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