Sunrail Legislation Off Track
April 15th, 2009 by Mike VasilindaLegislation creating Sunrail, the commuter rail project stretching across four central Florida counties, got sidetracked Wednesday when more than 70 people showed up to a committee hearing to speak.
The contentious issue has been touch and go all session, but it picked up one Democratic vote today when a two dollar rental car surcharge was added to the bill to help fund other rail projects. Sen. Andy Gardiner of Orlando is unsure if the project will stay on track.
“If the rental car surcharge stays in place this is a very good agreement for South Florida, because tri-rail eventually wants to expand to the tri rail line,” Gardiner said. “In order to do that, they need this language. Not just the rental car surcharge, they need the liability language as well. We’re going to try to tell all our colleagues that and we’re going to do our best.”
The rental car surcharge’s biggest enemy is Governor Charlie Crist. He has said he will only let it pass if it includes a referendum by voters.
Posted in Business, Legislature, State News, Transportation | No Comments »