Transportation train bill runs off track, ‘seems’ dead days from Sine Die

A transportation package looks like roadkill days out from Sine Die. After the Senate passed a version that deviated significantly from a House version, the lower chamber appears to be moving on.

Asked if the package was dead, Rep. Fiona McFarland, who shepherded House legislation (HB 543), replied, “Seems so.” The Sarasota Republican had prioritized a number of policies in the lower chamber, including providing protections for wheelchair-accessible vehicles that must occupy two spaces.

But Sen. Nick DiCeglie, a Pinellas Republican who carried the companion bill (SB 1080), left that and other differences with the House bill out when the Senate passed the legislation on a 33-0 vote.

DiCeglie said the Senate version also contains provisions not found in the House measure, including language defining what constitutes a “careful and prudent manner” for right turns on red at intersections with red-light cameras. The Senate bill also increases Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) funding opportunities for certain rural airports and requires FDOT to conduct a railroad crossing safety study.

But there are plenty of provisions the House put in its bill that didn’t make it through the upper chamber, including language related to seaport property conversions, expansion of school bus stop-arm cameras to private and charter schools, and the exploration of digital driver’s licenses.

Ultimately, McFarland said it proved impossible to get the chambers on the same course.

“It just got too weighed down with different items — classic train issue,” she said.

In this case, the bills proved to be on a collision course.

In prior years, the House has put forward language that the Senate ultimately could not agree to pass in the end, such as when the Senate slammed the brakes on a House-desired increase in state speed limits.

But with days left in the 2026 Legislative Session, McFarland said differences cannot be settled in talks between the chambers.

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Jesse Mendoza of Florida Politics contributed to this report