Road Funding In Voters’ Hands

The news of an agreed upon solution to road funding between the Legislative Quadrant and Governor Rick Snyder was announced at noon on Thursday. The solution included an increase in the sales tax from 6 to 7 percent, the removal of the sales tax from gasoline, a new fuel tax which will be set at 14.9 percent of the wholesale price, increased fees for heavy trucks, changes to vehicle registration, and a new fee placed on electric and hybrid vehicles.

Bipartisan support in the House and the Senate as well as support from the Governor led to the passage of this transportation funding package, which is set to give Michigan voters the ability to fix the roads. While many of the bills in the package laid out crucial elements to road funding, the necessary $1.2 billion to execute the plan will come from a ballot initiative facing voters in May. If the ballot initiative, which will raise the sales tax, is defeated on May 12, a special election date, then all pieces of the transportation package other than “Main Street Fairness” would be repealed. The repeal of this legislation would send the State back to square one for road funding solutions.

With the announcement of the agreement on transportation funding the process to pass the bills began; however, the translation of the agreement into bills took eleven hours of work from the Legislative Services Bureau. Shortly after the completion of this process the three conference committees approved the measures sending them to a vote in the full bodies of the Legislature.

Although the House passed the eleven bill package shortly after midnight, the passage did not come as easy in the Senate causing both chambers to remain in session until early Friday morning with the final passage of the sales tax increase, the last piece of legislation, coming at 5:30 a.m. in the Senate. Most of the night was spent searching for the 26th vote, making the two-thirds majority needed, in the Senate chambers. The first attempt to pass House Joint Resolution UU, the sales tax increase, in the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed. Following this failure Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) entered into a heated exchange with Senator Mike Green (R-Mayville) for voting no. When the vote was reconsidered Senator Green was the 26th vote needed for passage, shortly after his yes vote was recorded the House passed Mr. Green’s bill, Senate Bill 789, which eliminates local gun boards and moves concealed pistol licensing to county clerks.

Mr. Green was not the only one who received priority legislation to gain their support for the transportation package as Democratic caucuses in both chambers scored victories during the marathon session. The largest of these victories was the restoration of the Earned Income Tax Credit to 20 percent. The Lansing Democrats also celebrated the expiration of legislation such as the Michigan Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the changing of the Oakland County executive election date, and Electoral College reform.

The final day of Lame Duck session also saw the death of bills that would set up an early warning system for financially troubled schools, allow for the creation of a teacher evaluation system, legalize and put regulations on dispensaries of medical marijuana, and allow edible forms of medical marijuana.

posted by PAA Online , Friday, December 19, 2014 12:27 PM
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