South Florida’s Tri-Rail board would be reshuffled, the rail line could expand to Monroe County, and its administration could be privatized under a sweeping transportation bill (CS/HB 1399) approved Monday by the House.

The House OK’d the measure 97-16. A similar bill (CS/SB 1068) is still awaiting final action in the Senate.

The legislation would turn the nine-member South Florida Regional Transportation Authority into a 10-member panel, with Gov. Rick Scott authorized to appoint four members. The bill earlier created an 11-member panel, with Scott naming five — but lawmakers bowed to critics worried about giving the governor too much authority over the rail board.

Still, the agreement addresses the governor’s desire to privatize Tri-Rail. Two-thirds of the board would have to approve such a step.

The bill also creates a program for the Palm Beach County School Board that would allow it to display the names of board “business partners” by displaying their names on district property in unincorporated areas.

A dozen Palm Beach County leaders huddled Wednesday with Rick Scott, lobbying the state’s chief executive on Tri-Rail, Medicaid spending and efforts to boost the troubled Glades economy.

County Commissioner Steve Abrams, and vice-chairman of the Tri-Rail board, effectively asked the governor to leave the commuter rail alone. The Florida Department of Transportation has floated the idea of turning operation of the money-losing rail line over to a public-private partnership.

“I think the best solution is to have local control,” Abrams said, during a 20-minute meeting between county officials and Scott and Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll.

Abrams, who said he’s a daily rider on Tri-Rail, also invited Scott to join him on his commute between Boca Raton and West Palm Beach.

Scott didn’t exactly agree, but he did ask, “Would they really let me run a train?”

For his part, Abrams, a lawyer, steered clear of promising to put Scott behind the wheel.

Margie Walden, executive vice-president of the Alliance of Delray Residential Associations, urged Scott to rethink the Legislature’s move last spring to seek federal approval for putting Florida’s 2.7 million Medicaid recipients into managed care programs. A five-county, HMO pilot program has been in place since 2006 in Broward and four other counties with mixed results, Waldren pointed out.

Walden said feared the move could hurt “super-seniors,” which she said are those over the age of 85 — a population that represents many of those who moved to south Palm Beach County as retirees in the 1980s, and have grown old there.

“We have very deep concerns,” Walden said.

Scott, though, didn’t sound likely to back away from the Medicaid rewrite — which still is awaiting approval from the Obama administration. Cost of the program, which is shared with the federal government, will absorb close to one-third of the $66.4 billion budget Scott has recommended for next year.

“The problem we have with Medicaid is that there just isn’t enough state money,” Scott said.

Shannon LaRocque, an assistant county administrator, also urged Scott to consider what the state could do to spur the economy in such communities as Belle Glade and Pahokee. Both communities are plagued by high unemployment — worsened by Scott’s closing last year of Glades Correctional Institution, the state’s oldest prison.

The development of a new, inland port on Lake Okeechobee remains a goal of county officials — although it hasn’t gotten much beyond the blueprint level.

“It’s going to bring great hope for jobs in that area,” LaRocque said.

 

Gov. Rick Scott is refusing to back down from his decision to blow off $2.4 billion from the feds for high-speed rail state lawmakers scrambled to get last year.

Scott remains convinced that the project won’t pay for itself despite assurances from supporters that they’re crafting a deal that would let the state get off Scott-free if the Tampa-Orlando project needs extra cash.

And he pointed to Tri-Rail commuter line from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach counties as an example.

“Look at ridership studies. There’s no way in the world that we’re not going to have operating losses,” Scott told reporters this morning. “I mean, look at Tri-Rail. I mean, Tri-Rail is almost $65 million in operating costs. The fares only cover $10 million of it. Right now each of you as taxpayers you help to subsidize to the tune of $35 million a year.

“So if you look at the risk of cost overruns, if you look at the ridership studies, if you look at the fact that if we make a mistake and we’re wrong we have to give $2.4 billion back to the federal government, it’s not worth the risk.”

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gave Florida’s Congressional delegation until Thursday to come up with an alternate plan after Scott rejected the money last week. It remains doubtful, however, if anything can happen without Scott’s approval.

Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein says his party let down taxpayers this week when the GOP-controlled legislature approved a multimillion-dollar package of rail spending that he considers wasteful.

“If the Republicans aren’t willing to defend the taxpayers, then nobody is,” Dinerstein said in an interview before Wednesday night’s county GOP meeting.

(more…)

The Florida Senate gave a final thumbs-up on a rail bill that is now headed to Gov. Charlie Crist, who has pledged to sign it into law.

The third time was the charm for the chamber, which passed it with a 27-10 vote but had twice before refused to sign off on a Central Florida commuter rail project called “SunRail” included in the measure.

The House passed the bill yesterday and a last-minute deal between the AFL-CIO, the Department of Transportation and Tri-Rail officials paved the way for its passage in the Senate.

The bill includes up to $15 million a year for Tri-Rail, enough to keep its current 50 trains-a-day running. That will keep the commuter line and the state from having to pay back $256 million in federal funds that would have to be returned if the schedule had been cut.

The measure also allows state transportation officials to move forward with the purchase of 61 miles of railroad track from CSX Inc. for the SunRail Central Florida commuter project. That commuter line will run from Poinciana to Maitland and was another sticking point in the Senate.

The bill creates two statewide panels to oversee passenger rail and diverts $60 million a year from real estate sales taxes to be spent on rail projects beginning in 2014.

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.

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.

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.

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.

(more…)

Lawmakers in the House are debating the 49-page proposal that would pave the way for a $2.2 billion Central Florida commuter rail system, create a statewide rail authority and keep Tri-Rail rolling.

GOP House leaders – who have been heated critics of President Barack Obama’s stimulus spending – say they’re doing all that to increase Florida’s chances of getting a slice of the $8 billion in federal stimulus funds for high-speed rail projects being doled out in January. The state’s applied for four projects totaling about $3.7 billion.

After 20 years of Tri-Rail’s operating in the red, why the rush to bail out the South Florida commuter line – the state’s only existing one – now?

Because U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said so.

“There’s a commitment at the federal level to get into the passenger rail business like it never has before,” LaHood told SunRail supporters in Orlando in October. “But, the only way it will pay off is if the State Legislature gets its act together.”
(more…)

Sen. Ronda Storms complained repeatedly about the rushed special session schedule and what she said is not enough time in a three-hour committee meeting held today to vet a 49-page bill dealing with a variety of rail issues.

She said she’s spent more time shopping for a computer than was devoted to the bill during the three-hour “workshop.”

“As a professional I want the chair to know that I object to the lack of time that we’ve been given,” Storms, R-Valrico, began her line of questions.

Storms likened the omnibus package to the federal bank bail-out package that was pushed through, she said, at the 11th hour and failed to result in the economic boost it promised.

She then launched into an attack on bill sponsor Sen. Jeremy Ring’s contention that the 15,000 who use Tri-Rail every day – two thirds of whom take it to work – will lose their jobs without the Tri-Rail fix included in the measure.

“Suddenly they’ll just be flopping around out there without transportation? That does not speak to me,” Storms said.

Storms prefaced each of her questions with gripes about the rushed scheduled slammed up against the Christmas holidays.

Transportation Committee Chairman and SunRail supporter Andy Gardiner had enough.

“Sen. Storms, I’ve heard the comment. We’re familiar with your position on this. The summary of this bill was sent out on Monday. This is a workshop…there is time over the weekend to review this,” Gardiner, R-Orlando. “I’ve heard ya. And I understand that. But please understand this is just the first opportunity.”

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill on Tuesday.

Senate President Jeff Atwater and his GOP lieutenants insist that the rail proposal now being considered in a special session that opened today has nothing to do with a controversial Central Florida commuter line known as “SunRail.”

That’s probably a wise maneuver since Senators twice failed to pass measures that would have allowed the state Department of Transportation to move forward with a deal paying CSX Inc. $641 million for 61 miles of track to start the commuter line and allow CSX to continue to run freight on the line for $1 a year.

Yet the first committee to take up the 49-page bill in a workshop this morning spent nearly the entire three hours discussing the SunRail project that the measure is supposedly not about.

And Tri-Rail got a fair amount of attention, too.

Sen. Paula Dockery, who’s hoping to ride a victory in the death of the SunRail deal earlier this year to the governor’s mansion, led the charge against SunRail with some simple questions about Tri-Rail.

The proposal will give up to a $15 million helping hand to Tri-Rail that, like every other public transit system in the country, loses money every year.

And it will bring thousands of jobs, said Sen. Jeremy Ring, the bill’s sponsor.

“How many jobs were created when Tri-Rail went into existence 20 years ago,” Dockery asked Ring.

Ring said that the 20-year-old commuter line has 330 employees.
(more…)

The Senate kicked off the special session this morning setting into motion a financial fix for Tri-Rail, a thumbs-up on a Central Florida commuter line and the possibility of bringing in billions of federal dollars for high-speed rail projects.

This is the third time around for the controversial Central Florida commuter project known as “SunRail.” The Senate killed the deal – already signed off on by the Department of Transportation – twice, most recently in May.

Critics in the Senate, led by Paula Dockery, objected to the deal in which the state will pay transportation giant CSX Inc. more than $500 million for 61 miles of track for the commuter line. CSX will still be operate its freight on the line in exchange for a payment to the state of $1 per year.

The SunRail deal died in the Senate during the regular legislative session by a 23-16 vote. Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, now apparently has 21 of the 40 senators on his side – just the amount he needs to get the bill passed.

Atwater said the legislation will bring thousands of jobs to the state and boost its flagging economy.

“This is indeed time for visionaries,” Atwater said during a brief opening session this morning. “A time when the people of florida are demanding action and are desperate for relief.”

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill on Tuesday.

Lawmakers are preparing to start a 10-day session on rail issues that in part could keep Tri-Rail on track.

The 49-page bill legislators will consider includes an extra $13 million to $15 million a year for Tri-Rail that’s been operating at a deficit since its inception two decades ago.

That’s “probably as good as we could get right now,” said Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons, who is also chairman of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority that oversees Tri-Rail.

That’s a big deal for leaders in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties where Tri-Rail runs. Federal officials have threatened to ask the counties to give back more than $200 million if Tri-Rail service is cut back as officials there have threatened.

Tri-Rail is paid for by the state, rider fares and the three counties in which it runs – Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade.

But the commuter line used by 15,000 riders daily has operated in the red by about $15 million every year.

Leaders in the three counties say they don’t have the money to make up the deficit and state lawmakers have refused to grant them the $2 rental car surcharge (also known as a tax) they’ve sought to cover their losses.

Now, state lawmakers are willing to fork over $13 million to $15 million a year to keep Tri-Rail on track to prove to federal lawmakers that Florida is serious about commuter rail. That way, the state will have a better chance at getting some of the $8 billion in stimulus money for high-speed rail projects.

The money will come from gas taxes and other fuel fees and should qualify as a “dedicated funding source” federal officials are seeking, Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons said.

“I think we ended up in the middle in the sense that we didn’t get our funding source but then a reallocation of those dollars is probably as good as we could get right now,” Koons said.

The third time may be the charm for the controversial Central Florida commuter rail project called SunRail.

A special session dealing with SunRail and South Florida’s ailing Tri-Rail system will begin Thursday at 9 a.m.

House Speaker Larry Cretul issued a memo this afternoon saying he plans for the House to vote on the bill on Monday and for the Senate to vote on it on Wednesday.

Cretul, R-Ocala, said he and Atwater have agreed in principal on the proposal, which apparently exists but has not yet been distributed to most lawmakers, if any.

Money for Tri-Rail will come from the state road project fund and money for Sunrail and other rail projects will come from doc stamps from home sales.

PDF: Summary of proposed statewide rail transit legislation

Next week’s special session to prove the state’s commitment to commuter rail could go nowhere without concessions to unions.

Senate President Jeff Atwater is trying to round up support for a Central Florida commuter line by linking it to a financial fix for the flailing Tri-Rail to draw down federal money for a third project, a high-speed line linking Tampa, Orlando and Miami.

The bill’s been negotiated by House and Senate leaders and the governor’s office behind closed doors throughout the month.

But Atwater’s ability to pass the measure in the Senate could hinge on two key Democratic senators: Democratic Leader Al Lawson of Tallahassee and Tony Hill of Jacksonville.

The labor unions were part of a coalition that killed the Central Florida SunRail deal despite backing from powerful GOP lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Crist.

Now the unions are pressuring Lawson and Hill to oppose the measure that is expected to include a provision that would allow SunRail to operate without union workers and do away with some Tri-Rail union jobs.

It might be hard for Lawson and Hill to turn their backs on the unions next week.

(more…)

Grover Norquist warned lawmakers not to vote for a rental car surcharge to subsidize financially flailing Tri-Rail as officials consider a special session on rail issues as early as next month.

Norquist, head of Washington, D.C.-based Americans for Tax Reform, sent legislators and Gov. Charlie Crist a letter today urging them to forget about the rental car tax.

They’re trying to reach consensus on SunRail, the controversial Central Florida commuter line that lawmakers failed to pass for two years in a row, by including the provision for the South Florida commuter rail.

And they’re trying to convince federal lawmakers that they’re committed to light rail although Tri-Rail lacks a dedicated funding source and ran more than $80 million in the red last year.

That’s because they want to get federal transportation funding for new rail projects Sunrail.

Crist, a SunRail supporter, is urging House and Senate leaders to call a special session as early as next month to deal with the commuter rail project and said today he supports giving voters in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties where Tri-Rail operates the chance to decide whether they want the surcharge.

Lawmakers did previously pass the surcharge but Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed it.

Whether voters approve it or not doesn’t appear to make a difference to Norquist.

“Despite allowing for ‘protections’ such as those in SB 1212 that would bring a tax hike to referendum, allowing a tax hike is still a bad idea,” Norquist wrote. “Facilitating a clear path that allows others to raise taxes is itself an act supporting tax increases.”

WEST PALM BEACH — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, meeting this morning with local elected officials, said the state legislature must act quickly to pledge money for Tri-Rail and other high-speed rail projects or lose out on as much as $2.5 billion in federal stimulus money.

He urged state lawmakers to approve money for the rail projects in a special session in December because federal grants will be announced in January.

“If they (state legislators) put it to next spring, that’s too late,” said Nelson, who offered to make phone calls to lawmakers to push for quick action.

“You’re going to have to show that you support Tri-Rail and commuter rail,” Nelson told the group, which includes some state legislators, Palm Beach County commissioners and city officials at West Palm Beach City Hall.

State Sen. Paula Dockery will enter the race for governor tomorrow, ending months of speculation about whether Attorney General Bill McCollum will face a GOP primary opponent.

Dockery confirmed that she will file papers to enter the race tomorrow.

The Lakeland Republican earned an ardent following in the spring when she led a winning crusade against a proposed Central Florida commuter rail line backed by prominent GOP leaders including Gov. Charlie Crist.

Dockery raised a ruckus about a deal in which the state would have paid transportation behemoth CSX Inc. more than $600 million for 61 miles of track for the SunRail project. Lawmakers ultimately refused to pass it even after a last-ditch effort to link it to the floundering Tri-Rail that was $80 million in the red last year.

Florida’s lagging economy that forced the legislature to trim more than $5 billion from the state budget over two years bolstered Dockery’s opposition to the project.

Dockery also criticized a component of the deal that makes the state liable for any accidents on the rail line even if they are caused by CSX, which would still be allowed to run freight cars on the commuter line.

Perhaps not coincidentally, SunRail supporter McCollum, who hails from the Orlando area, today ordered Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos to appear before the Cabinet on Nov. 17 to give an update on the liability issue.

“I strongly support legislation to implement a SunRail agreement,” McCollum wrote.