Frank Torres
Altamonte Springs State Rep. Bob Cortes is looking to reform the Central Florida Transportation Authority with a new bill that could eventually privatize the region’s LYNX bus system.
Filed on Friday, HB 155 would change the five-person board, now made up of Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, Osceola Commissioner Viviana Janer, Seminole County Commissioner Carlton Henley, and Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Noranne Downs.
If passed, the board would expand to nine people: three elected officials from Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties; three lawmakers from the biggest cities in each of those counties (Orlando, Sanford, and Kissimmee); and three gubernatorial appointees that do not live in those cities.
Downs would stay on the board in a nonvoting capacity.
The second major part of the bill authorizes the board to accept requests for proposals from private companies to govern the daily management of the authority’s operations, which include the embattled LYNX system.
As a long-controversial agency, LYNX has consistently faced calls to privatize from lawmakers such as U.S. Rep. John Mica and State Rep. Jason Brodeur.
Both lawmakers think a change in the transit system would increase efficiency, becoming another step toward forming a regionwide network.
The third part of the legislation would allow evaluations of both financial reports and overall operational efficiency by the state’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability office.
“Changing the composition of the board provides the opportunity for stronger representation from the other cities in the area and better policy” Cortes told Florida Politics. “The sending for a the request for proposals of management and day-to-day operation will help LYNX and make the entity stronger as a whole.”
