(The following editorial appeared on the Lakeland Ledger website on May 1.)
LAKELAND, Fla. — With two days left in the Florida Legislature’s annual session, two approaches are becoming clearly defined in the final battle over a controversial rail plan. The proposal originally called for the state to pay CSX Corp. $641 million to buy 61.5 miles of tracks for a commuter rail line in Orlando, fund construction of a massive CSX freight hub in Winter Haven and provide millions of dollars of insurance to hold CSX harmless from legal liability on the commuter line.
While Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, has strongly and smartly led the fight against CSX – based on increased rail congestion in Lakeland’s virbrantly redeveloped downtown, the Florida Department of Transportation’s secrecy in negotiating with CSX, the indemnification of CSX and a long-and-legitimate list of additional concerns, it took a state official independent of Lakeland (or Winter Haven or Orlando) to fully open the Legislature’s eyes.
That official is Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the only Democratic member of the state Cabinet. Late Friday afternoon, she sent a damning letter to Senate President Ken Pruitt and Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, both of the Legislature’s majority Republican Party.
Sink said “negotiations took place over several years without the ‘sunshine’ Floridians expect from their government. Indeed, much of the initial negative reaction to DOT’s proposal is a direct result of the lack of full public disclosure on this several-hundred-million-dollar deal.”
Then Sink launched into her area of expertise – finance. In this case, bad finance, because of the legal liability the plan would shift to the state.FINANCIAL EXPOSURE”Recent legislative changes have now greatly increased the state’s financial exposure,” Sink said. “The liability rests on a no-fault principle, meaning taxpayers will be responsible for paying the bill in several scenarios, even if CSX is completely at fault,” she said, running down three examples:
In a one-train accident, taxpayers would fully responsible to all passengers and loss, except for CSX employees and property.
In multitrain accidents, the taxpayers would be fully responsibly, except for CSX employees and property, even if CSX or another train were at fault.
For accidents such as a chemical spill, the state and CSX would split responsibility 50/50.
Further, Sink said, the House proposal set a $200 million coverage liability limit. The Senate proposal set a floor of at least $250 million in self-insurance and insurance liability coverage.
Sink’s stark analysis opened lawmakers’ eyes wide. The legislative backlash sent one of the proposal’s strongest proponents, an Orlando-area power senator, reeling.
As a result, the senator, Majority Leader Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, removed from the plan Winter Haven’s freight hub, termed an integrated logistics center and often called the ILC. He also removed other Central Florida freight-related improvements, bringing down the project price to $450 million. The House passed that scaled-down plan Tuesday.
Late Wednesday, after the plan stalled in the Senate, Webster decided to remove the liability provisions, as Joe Follick of The Ledger’s Tallahassee Bureau reports today. “I think the liability issue is dead,” Webster said.
Although Webster insists that the project can go on without the Legislature’s funding or blessing, he should admit that, as things stand, the “issue is dead.”START OVER, WORK IN OPENThe Legislature should halt consideration of any of the CSX-related projects this year, either as a reconstituted plan or piecemeal.
It should order that the following be completed in time for consideration during the 2009 legislative session, and be undertaken in the open with time for full public comment:
Negotiate with CSX for the Orlando tracks needed for commuter trains, minus any state indemnification.
Complete the development of regional impact study for the Winter Haven freight hub, being sure to include downstream impacts such as additional freight traffic in local communities and the substantial increase of truck traffic on area highways.
Undertake and complete a study to resolve the downtown Lakeland congestion from the CSX freight trains – whether by rerouting freight traffic around the city or by other means – and identify a method of funding the remedy.