The Florida House earlier this morning passed statewide rail transit legislation, with lightening speed, by a vote of 84-25 and the bill (HB-1B), now heads for the Senate Committee on Transportation at 2:00 pm today. But will the bill pass the Florida Senate?
Meanwhile, the Central Florida Partnership (CFP) and the Tampa Bay Partnership (TBP) today announced their strong support of the Special Legislative Session in which the Statewide Rail Transit is currently being debated in Tallahassee.
According to CFP and TBP, the current legislation in addition to taking on board regional commuter rail, projects forward and commits to future rail transit projects across Florida. They note that thorny issues in previous sessions have been addressed, particularly the liability agreement between the State and CSX. One concern perhaps remain and that is with labor unions who claim that about 100 union workers would be displaced in future bid projects.
“Statewide Rail Transit means jobs, jobs, and more jobs,” said Jacob V. Stuart, President and CEO of the Central Florida Partnership. “To delay this due to union demands does a disservice to the millions who are seeking immediate employment this rail bill will bring to our state. The time is now to support this historic legislation so we may put people back to work.”
“Traffic delays, poor air quality, high unemployment, sprawling growth, struggling housing market and record high gas prices are the costs to Central Florida and the State of Florida from a history of doing nothing but talking about infrastructure investment in transit. These are costs we cannot afford,” said Stuart Rogel, President and CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership. “We cannot let our individual differences get in the way of what is best for all of our communities. We need our state elected officials to demonstrate strong leadership and courage to finally move our state one step closer to creating the world-class regional and statewide transportation system that will support the sustainable, inclusive and productive economy that our citizens demand.”
Supporters share the view that the time has come to support statewide rail transit which connects business and people, the likes of which have not been seen and they maintain that now is the time to pass this legislation. They also argue that it would be difficult for Florida to qualify for $2.6 billion in federal stimulus funds to also build a high-speed rail line between Orlando and Tampa, if the SunRail system is not operating in the Orlando area.
Source: centralfloridapartnership.org
