Florida’s loss could be California’s gain when it comes to high-speed rail.

On Thursday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority will hold a special meeting to select projects that could be paid for with $2.43 billion of federal money that was originally slated to go toward high-speed rail in Florida. Florida Gov. Rick Scott opted to turn down the federal funding.

The state authority has recommended several projects that could be paid for with the new funding, most of them in the Central Valley region. Rail projects at Bakersfield, Chowchilla and Merced top the authority’s wish list.

wreisman@sfexaminer.com