High-speed rail funding rejected by Florida Gov. Rick Scott officially became California’s gain Tuesday as the U.S. Department of Transportation granted nearly $1 billion to the California High-Speed Rail Authority.
In February, Scott rejected about $2.4 billion from DOT for a $2.6 billion high-speed train line from Tampa to Orlando. About $214 million of that spurned money went to California as part of Tuesday's $928 million DOT grant for the state’s high-speed rail project. Total federal commitment to California’s high-speed rail projects is now about $3.9 billion.
It’s not the first time California has profited from a Republican governor’s decisions to reject rail funding. After Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tossed back a combined $1.2 billion in 2010, more than $610 million of that money was redirected to California’s high-speed rail.
(More on funding for Calif. high-speed rail . . . )