State Leaders call for Special Session on Rail
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
By: Tom Parkinson

Florida's legislative leaders are telling members to be in Tallahassee on Thursday to begin work on expanding and strengthening commuter rail systems. On Monday, Senate President Jeff Atwater and House Speaker Larry Cretul jointly called for an eight-day special session. The call is backed by Gov. Charlie Crist. The lawmakers will try to get Central Florida's Sun Rail project going and identify a permanent funding source for South Florida's Tri-Rail system. Federal leaders have made it clear that Florida must show a meaningful commitment to commuter rail projects if it wants to qualify for $2.5 billion dollars in federal stimulus money earmarked for high speed rail projects such as the proposed Orlando to Tampa bullet train. There is already some opposition to the Sun Rail proposal. Questions of liability have derailed talks in the past and many lawmakers still have concerns about those issues. Now, the Florida AFL-CIO is criticizing the plan because it would allow the state to replace some experienced workers with new hires. The union says it hasn't been involved in the negotiations with the governor or with legislative leaders.