Legislative Update - December

On the Special Session

This month, legislative leaders convened a Special Session in Tallahassee to consider a bill related to commuter and high-speed rail in Florida.  While the proposal was presented as a means of creating a statewide rail plan that would enable Florida to receive federal stimulus dollars for rail projects, the bill also cleared way for the state to spend $1.2 billion to purchase and upgrade CSX railroad tracks in Central Florida.  Because of this project’s huge price tag, along with several other troublesome provisions in the bill, I voted against the proposal.

 

I very strongly support developing a statewide system of commuter and high-speed rail lines in Florida.  Doing so would benefit our state’s tourism industry, it would ease congestion on our roads and it would reduce gas consumption and pollution.  I personally have ridden Tri-Rail, and understand from talking to other passengers how important our own commuter train is to getting South Floridians to work, school and local airports.

 

And while the proposal does provide some funding for Tri-Rail, it stops far short of “saving” it, as recent newspaper headlines declared.  The bill offered only $15 million a year to help Tri-Rail, which is not enough to keep Tri-Rail running, and which the legislature could take away at any time.  This pittance was not the dedicated funding source we’d been looking for, and was certainly not enough to convince me to support the other bad public policy contained in this bill.

 

For starters, the price is simply too high. Under this bill, Florida will pay $641 million for 61 miles of track now owned by the CSX Railroad – a private, for-profit corporation.  It’s highly questionable whether the land is actually worth that much.  Earlier this year, the state of Massachusetts paid only $100 million for 65 miles of track in the Boston metropolitan area.

 

Following the purchase, the state will own the tracks, but CSX will still be able to run freight trains on our tracks for 12 hours a day.  At the same time, the deal shifts much of the legal liability onto Florida taxpayers if an accident occurs.  For any accident that happens inside what’s called the “rail corridor,” (the tracks and the land right around it), the state will be responsible for all the damages, even if CSX is 100% at fault.   Even if CSX’s misconduct is egregious enough to result in punitive damages, CSX would only pay the first $10 million, while taxpayers may have to reimburse CSX as much $180 million in damages specifically intended to punish CSX. This is not exactly the type of public-private partnership our state should seek – one in which our so-called partners get all the money and the taxpayers take all the risk.
 
There is also nothing in this bill to keep federal worker protections and safety standards in place, once the state purchases the CSX tracks.  The Florida Department of Transportation has given its “word” that it won’t fire the experienced workers who are currently subject to federal training and safety requirements. But, there’s nothing in writing to stop this agency – which doesn’t have a record of transparency or openness – from replacing trained workers with inexperienced contract labor.  And existing contracts make it clear that FDOT and CSX intend to do just that.

 

What most troubles me about this bill, though, is that it simply reflects the wrong priorities for our state.  We’re facing a $2.6 billion deficit next year, and we know there will be major cuts to critical programs.  The state is currently embroiled in a lawsuit over its failure for years to raise reimbursement rates to doctors who treat children on Medicaid, making it difficult or nearly impossible for poor and disabled children to get the care to which they are entitled.  And in Broward, we had to cut $150 million from our school budget this year, and it’s expected we’ll have to cut another $8 million before the fiscal year is over.  When the state can’t meet even its bare-bones needs, it just doesn’t make sense to spend $1.2 billion on a rail deal that will benefit a wealthy corporation.  And make no mistake – money will be diverted from vital state services to cover the cost of this project.

 

The governor has said that it would have been “absolutely catastrophic and indefensible not to vote for the train.”  He’s wrong.  What is catastrophic and indefensible is allowing poor and disabled children to go without health and dental care, or having to borrow $300 million a month just to keep unemployment checks going to the million jobless people in our state, or making even deeper cuts to education. For all these reasons, I just couldn’t support this legislation. 

Of course, I welcome your questions or comments on this issue, or any matter relating to state government.  Feel free to contact my office at (954) 747-7933, or e-mail me at rich.nan.web@flsenate.gov.

 

 


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