(The following story by Catherine Dolinski appeared on the Tampa Tribune website on December 9, 2009.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Commuter rail legislation sped through the state Senate to final passage on Tuesday, breaking through a fragile alliance of opponents that has held back key parts of the proposal in the past.
The Senate vote of 27-10 sent the bill to Gov. Charlie Crist for approval. The Senate version was identical to the bill passed by the House on Monday, so no further conferencing between the chambers was necessary. Crist, an ardent supporter of the legislation, is expected to enact it swiftly.
The bill clears away obstacles for construction of SunRail, a $1.2 billion commuter rail project in Central Florida, and begins to shore up South Florida’s Tri-Rail with an extra $15 million in annual funding. The bill also shifts future transportation planning and spending toward mass transit and could help the state win a $2.5 billion federal grant to link Tampa and Orlando with high-speed rail.
Throughout the session, which began Thursday, opposition from labor threatened to cost proponents key Democratic votes in the Senate. The AFL-CIO had protested that the bill would cost union jobs and rob rail workers of federal employment protections they currently enjoy.
Senate leaders had stated repeatedly that they were negotiating with labor, but no agreement was forthcoming – and the vote count was still in doubt – until the Senate neared final debate on Tuesday. At 3 p.m., Florida AFL-CIO president Mike Williams announced that a deal had been struck.
The deal is an “administrative” agreement between labor representatives and transportation officials, meaning that it required no bill amendments. Specifically, the accord preserves 184 jobs for signalmen and other rail workers along the Tri-Rail and SunRail corridors, AFL-CIO lobbyist Rich Templin said. Existing job protections for those rail workers will also continue.
House Speaker Larry Cretul credited the governor with helping to bring about the necessary fix without changing the bill.
The bill sets a framework for future rail initiatives in the state, but the administrative agreement makes no guarantees about how labor issues will be handled in those projects, Templin said. “But that’s the nature of compromise.”
Not everyone in the minority party switched their votes based on the union accord.
“It was more than about the unions,” said Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, who has voted against SunRail in the past and was one of three Democrats voting no on Tuesday. “It was about the people of Florida who we’re going to have to make further cuts on, come March – and where we are we going to get the money? How can we afford to spend this money on this train?”
Joyner was alluding to the $2.2 billion state shortfall that lawmakers will have to fill during next spring’s legislative session, and an even larger budget shortfall expected the following year, as federal stimulus money dries up.
Storms, Dockery oppose bill
During Senate debate, lead SunRail opponents Paula Dockery and Ronda Storms tried in vain to persuade their colleagues to change the terms of the bill, arguing that the costs were too great and the liability provisions too risky for taxpayers.
Technically, the rail bill does not allocate any money for SunRail, but it eliminates the key legal issue that was holding up that $1.2 billion undertaking and could have caused problems for other rail projects in the future.
Dockery, R-Lakeland, argued in favor of making any spending on SunRail contingent upon receipt of the $2.5 billion federal grant for the planned high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. Senate leaders had pressed the House for a special session before year’s end, saying that federal officials warned that Florida’s chances at the high-speed money would dim if the state did not first commit more strongly to its existing commuter rail projects.
Dockery’s amendment failed, however, as did another from Storms, R-Valrico, that would have lifted out the legal liability components. The liability issue has dogged the SunRail project for several sessions because CSX has demanded a no-fault agreement as part of the deal to sell Florida 61 miles of track for the project.
Bill sponsors altered the indemnification language somewhat by making CSX liable for more costs in the event of certain accident scenarios. Storms and Dockery argued the changes were merely superficial – but for the first time in three sessions, they could not persuade enough of their colleagues to vote no.
Sen. Victor Crist voted against a SunRail/Tri-Rail proposal in the spring but switched to yes in the final hours of the session.
Crist said the governor called him about his vote and made a surprise appearance at his committee on Tuesday. Both the governor and Senate President Jeff Atwater used a “softer sell” approach, based on arguments and information rather than threats or promises.
“I made my decision on the Senate floor,” Crist said. “What I was basically looking for was, was this good for Hillsborough County, was it good for Tampa Bay – not, was it good for Miami … What I saw in this piece of legislation was an assertive step forward towards moving state policy in the direction of mass transit.”
Bill about ‘going statewide’
With controversies still swirling around SunRail, bill sponsors tried hard to stress potential benefits for other areas of the state, particularly Tampa Bay. On Tuesday, representatives from local organizations such as the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority told Senate committees that passing the bill would help to move local projects forward.
“That was what the bill was about: going statewide,” Atwater said after the vote. “I think now, with the work that we’ve done, Tampa Bay will begin its initiatives to begin creating local connectivity in Tampa Bay in Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough counties, in Manatee.”
The legislation dedicates about $60 million statewide to mass transit starting in 2014. Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said he thinks TBARTA has a good chance of winning much of that for the Bay area.
As Senate debate wound down and it became clear that the bill would pass, Dockery told her colleagues that she still supports the “vision” of increasing mass transit. “I just wanted to make sure the dollars are there to do it – and none of the questions I asked today about the dollars were answered.”