Nelson may ask for more time on high-speed rail funds

On Feb. 25, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood met with Scott in Washington and gave him a week to make a final decision on whether he’ll accept the economic stimulus funds. 

“Florida has no financial responsibility and it’s all a privatized matter,” Nelson said. 

LaHood has said he’s worked with the state “to make sure we eliminated all financial risk for the state, instead requiring private businesses competing for the project to assume cost overruns and operating expenses.”

If Florida doesn’t accept the funds, other states are lining up to take the funding, including New York, Maryland and California. 

Two state senators, one a Democrat and one a Republican, sued the state, saying the law requires the governor to take the funding. Scott has disagreed, arguing that the project puts the state on the hook for cost overruns and other costs. 

After Scott’s decision, Nelson got lawyers researching another way to get the funding to the state. They are examining whether a metropolitan planning organization in Tampa and a rail authority in South Florida, which have volunteered to step forward in place of the state, can accept oversight of the rail project and the $2.4 billion in federal funds. 

The Obama administration has proposed spending $8 billion for high-speed rail in the coming fiscal year as part of a six-year plan to inject $53 billion into the system.