from The News Service
of Florida
Two lawmakers who say Gov. Rick Scott has no authority to scrub a Tampa-to-Orlando bullet train brought their case to the Florida Supreme Court Thursday.
With $2.4 billion in federal funds hanging in the balance, Sens. Thad Altman and Arthenia Joyner brought their case to the state’s highest court as individual lawmakers. But the pair undoubtedly represented colleagues in both chambers who believe Scott overstepped his authority by canceling a high-speed rail project approved by lawmakers in December 2009.
“Rather than faithfully implementing that law, (Scott) has pretty much said he is going to refuse to implement it,” Altman told reporters after the short arguments by his lawyer and the governor’s general counsel. “The only entity that can do that is the Legislature, not the governor.”
Scott’s General Counsel Charles Trippe countered before the justices that a ruling favoring the legislators would place the court in the position of forcing a governor to spend money that had yet to be received by the state. Trippe said nothing in state law could force the governor to spend the federal money offered as a carrot to states to develop alternative transportation networks.