(The following story by Catherine Dolinski appeared on the Tampa Tribune website on April 15, 2009.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — SunRail, the state’s $1.2 billion commuter rail project in Central Florida, is expected to gain a swing vote today needed to advance the deal in the Senate.
The controversial deal between the state and CSX Corp. to build SunRail hinges on a no-fault liability plan that CSX is demanding as part of the package.
The state plans to buy the necessary track from the rail company and lease it back as needed for freight traffic.
CSX wants the state to be responsible for the cost of accidents involving commuter trains on the line, even if they are the fault of CSX.
The bill with the liability provision comes up today in the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, where Sen. Chris Smith is thought to be the swing vote. Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, has been withholding his support for SunRail, saying that he will yield only if the bill also allows a local-option surcharge of $2 a day on rental cars.
Smith wants a local surcharge to support TriRail, the commuter rail system in Smith’s home district that now faces potentially devastating money problems as the supporting counties tighten their budgets.
Smith proposed letting counties impose the local surcharge, but Gov. Charlie Crist threatened to veto such a plan, arguing that voters should make those decisions.
Tuesday, SunRail bill sponsor Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, confirmed that the substitute bill he will offer in committee today will include the rental car surcharge.
“I’ve never had a problem with it,” Constantine said, noting that he voted in 2006 for a rental car surcharge bill that ran afoul of then-Gov. Jeb Bush’s veto.
His main concern has been running afoul of opposition not only from Crist, but also from anti-tax conservatives in the Legislature. His compromise is a local-option surtax that county commissioners could vote by supermajority to add to the next general election ballot.
Smith said he was still waiting to see exactly how the provision was worded but that he expected it will be sufficient to win his support.