(The following story by Jim Saunders appeared on the News-Journal website on April 1, 2009.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Volusia County leaders have made a top priority of creating a Central Florida commuter-rail system.
But as busloads of residents traveled Wednesday to Tallahassee for Volusia Day at the Capitol, the fate of the SunRail project is tangled in the Florida Senate.
Halfway through the annual legislative session, supporters say they don’t know whether they will have enough votes to get the controversial project passed.
As an indication of the problems, two Volusia-area senators say they likely will vote against the project, and another says she is undecided.
“I think that anybody that says they’ve got locked-down, guaranteed victory or defeat is premature,” said Sen. Lee Constantine, an Altamonte Springs Republican who is sponsoring a bill that would clear the way for the 61-mile system linking Volusia and three other counties.
The bill would give legal protections to CSX Transportation, which has negotiated a deal that includes selling tracks to the state for SunRail. CSX would continue using the tracks, and the bill would help shield it from liability if a freight train is involved in an accident with a commuter train.
House members are widely expected to approve the bill. But it has drawn opposition in the Senate for a variety of reasons.
Some senators, for example, don’t like giving the legal protections to CSX. Others, meanwhile, are troubled by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the deal while the state faces massive budget problems that could lead to cutting money for education and other programs.
“It’s just wrong bill, wrong time,” said Sen. Jim King, a Jacksonville Republican whose district includes parts of Volusia and Flagler counties.
King and Sen. Tony Hill, a Jacksonville Democrat who also represents parts of Volusia and Flagler, said this week they likely will oppose the bill. Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, said she didn’t know how she would vote on it.
Sen. Carey Baker, a Eustis Republican who represents part of western Volusia County, has already voted for the bill in two committees.
Close to 200 Volusia County residents, businesspeople and elected officials came to the Capitol on Wednesday. The main theme of the annual Volusia Day event was supporting education, but signs and banners also showed support for SunRail.
County Chairman Frank Bruno said lawmakers need to approve the bill during this session or lose federal money that is essential for SunRail.
“If we don’t do it now, you’re not going to have the opportunity in the future,” he said.
Bruno, Constantine and Volusia County lobbyist Sam Bell tried to dispel arguments that the state should not spend money on SunRail because of the other budget problems.
They said money for the rail project is earmarked in transportation funds that wouldn’t, otherwise, go to education or other programs.
The bill passed two Senate committees early in the session. But a showdown could be looming in two weeks in the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee.
Bell, a former Volusia County lawmaker, acknowledged that a Senate vote on the bill would be close. But he said he hopes senators will see the “big picture.”
“Once you get down to the bottom line, if you favor commuter rail — and believe that’s the answer — then this is the deal,” Bell said.