The Senate was unable to pass road funding
this week after voting a number of times and staying in until almost 1:00AM
Wednesday and nearly 9:00PM Thursday. House
Bill 5477 was voted down in no less than 3 different forms putting a hold
on the bill that makes up the majority of road funding. The forms varied
greatly as one would have focused on raising new money, one focused on the new
tax structure and raising little new money, and one attempted to simply add a
penny to the current tax paid at the pump.
Senate substitute S-9 failed twice Wednesday,
once on an unrecorded 17-15 vote, falling just shy of the 20 needed to pass,
and the second was a record roll call vote that ended with 17 aye votes and 21
no votes. The substitute looked to put a 7 percent wholesale tax on gasoline,
this would equate to roughly 19.4 cents per gallon. The substitute then called
for a 2 percent increase every year for 5 years, this would raise the tax to
about 41.5 cents per gallon. 17 Republicans were joined by 4 Democrats in their
effort to defeat the substitute.
After the failure of the first substitute
Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) proposed Senate Substitute
S-10 that would have set the wholesale tax on gas at 7 percent with no
increase. The plan was said to be revenue neutral and only addressed the
structural change. The substitute failed the first time it was open for voting
in a 14-24 fashion and was then considered a second time failing 19-16. The
substitute had reached the 20 vote threshold for passing but before the minute
long voting period had ended Senator Steve Bieda (D-Warren) changed his vote causing
the substitute to fail.
Senate Majority Leader Richardville
(R-Monroe) and Senate Minority Leader Whitmer (D-East Lansing) traded shots
after session adjourned. Mr. Richardville made a statement saying that the
chamber was close to solving road funding but the Democrats decided they did
not want to address the structural problem. Ms. Whitmer responded saying that
she was able to get two-thirds of her members to vote for the first substitute
while Republican leadership could only get a third of their members to cast yes
votes. She continued to attack Republican leadership saying that Governor Rick
Snyder had not worked a single vote and was failing to lead on the issue.
The Senate also took up HB
5493 in an effort to repeal the current diesel tax and replace it with a
tax rate equal to the rate in HB
5477. The bill was originally defeated with 18 yes votes and 19 no votes;
however, when reconsidered the bill was passed by a 20-18 margin. Since the tax
rate is tied to the rate in HB
5477 both bills would have to pass in order for the diesel tax to be
enacted.
Senate
Bills 847 and SB
752, involving the Homestead Property Tax Credit, were both passed with
37-1 vote counts. Senator Kahn was the only opposition to the bills which would
lower the threshold for determining the credit to 2.6 percent of total
household income from 3.5 percent and increase the credit as well as change the
total household resource disqualifier. These bills are tie-barred to HB
5477 and HB
5493; meaning that in order for the Homestead Property Tax Credit bills to
become law, so too must the road funding and diesel parity bills.
Another bill that was hotly debated by the
Senate was HB
4630 which would alter motor vehicle registration fees. The debate
pertained to an amendment Senator Morris Hood III (D-Detroit) proposed that
would lower weight limits for trucks by 10,000 pounds a year for three years.
The amendment was proposed after HB
5452, aimed at increasing overweight truck fees, failed 16 yes votes to 22
no votes. The amendment was defeated with only three Republicans supporting it.
One amendment that passed would change the tax to $75 for pole trailers,
semitrailers, trailer coaches, and trailers between zero and 2,499 pounds, a
$200 tax for trailers between 2,500 pounds and 4,999 pounds and a $300 tax for
10,000 pounds and over. An amendment forcing vehicles that transport patients
and medical equipment to pay a $10 fee for their plate was also passed. Senate
Substitute S-3 containing these amendments to HB
4630 narrowly passed the chamber. While HB
4630 was being reconsidered arguably the most important amendment which
would freeze registration fee rates beginning January 1, 2016 was passed. The
amended version of the bill passed 21-15.
Three less controversial transportation
funding bills were also passed in the Senate on Wednesday night. HB
5167 which passed with unanimous support would require Request for
Proposals (RFP) on all projects over $100,000 for the Department of
Transportation. It would also require local road commissions to go through an RFP
process for all projects over $100,000 excluding routine maintenance. HB
5460 and HB
4251, which would require that road construction projects over $1 million
have a warranty through the road agency and would require the bidding out of a
project if a township contributes 50 percent of funding for a road construction
project over $1 million, were passed 37-1.
Senate
Joint Resolution A, which would increase the state sales tax from 6 percent
to 7 and mandate that 90 percent of the new revenue be put towards road funding,
failed miserably with a final vote count of 14 yeas and 24 nays. Since the
issue was a constitutional amendment, two thirds of the chambers had to vote
yes in order to pass the resolution. A motion to reconsider was made after the
vote. SJR
A was defeated with 13 Republicans and all Democrats excluding Senate
Minority Floor Leader Tupac Hunter (D-Detroit) opposing.
An S-12 version of the measure was put on the
voting board late Thursday that simply maintained the 19 cent per gallon
gasoline tax, but allowed it to increase with inflation providing very little
if any immediate revenue. That measure, however, met a similar demise.
During the action Thursday, a frustrated
Senator Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw), a major supporter of the effort to raise as
much as $1.8 billion, attempted to adjourn the Senate and ultimately left
session.
It
is yet unclear if the Legislature will continue to debate the issue until the
expected single-day session in mid-July.