LANSING – The chances of getting a proposal on the November ballot to voters to raise $1.2 billion for roads appear bleak, but there are some signs of subtle progress on an issue that has seen little attention with all the focus on Medicaid expansion.

To meet the deadline for the November ballot, the Michigan Legislature would have to move essentially from a standing start the first week of September – when the House potentially will be trying to wrap up the Medicaid legislation – and pass a plan that week. Needless to say, that is unlikely.

After their first meeting in months on the issue last week, top legislative leaders and the Snyder administration held a conference call this week to continue those discussions.

“We are talking,” said Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing). “Obviously, it’s only just broad strokes, but at least some dialogue’s happening.”

Rep. Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the issue remains “a wait and see game right now.”

The plan to raise $1.2 billion dollars for infrastructure that has been largely talked about would switch the state to a wholesale gasoline tax based on a percentage of the price from the current tax of 19-cents a gallon, eliminate the sales tax on gasoline, raise the sales tax by 1 percentage point to recoup the money revenue sharing and schools would lose from ending the sales tax on fuel and increase registration fees.

Schmidt said he is not involved in many of the negotiations between Republican and Democratic leadership, but the House Democrats he talks to still want to get something done on road funding and seem open minded.

Schmidt said the increase in the sales tax would slightly increase the amount of funding schools are getting currently. He also said if the House Democrats walked away from coming up with a solution to road funding, it wouldn’t serve them or their constituents.

“If they’re not getting behind this, then what will they get behind?” He asked.

Ari Adler, spokesperson for House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) said there is no official transportation funding plan, there is simply a number of discussions surrounding possible plans.

“It is true the House Democrats have failed to offer any solutions for transportation funding but that is par for the course,” he said. “Some people might get the idea that Democrats would rather complain than cooperate, but that’s a question for them to answer, not us.”

But House Minority Leader Tim Greimel (D-Auburn Hills) said on Wednesday discussions happened just yesterday during a conference call between involving the Legislative Quadrant.

“Well, we just participated yesterday,” Greimel said. “It’s obviously the case we are participating, like we have in the past.”

Greimel did say if a plan is to come together, there isn’t much time left, and that discussions are continuing.

“Many of our members have some very serious reservations about a sales tax increase,” he said. “But we’re keeping an open mind and maintaining our end of communication.”

Greimel did not offer a specific alternative to the increase of the sales tax, but did say the House Democrats are serious about finding a bipartisan solution to road funding. He also added that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a two-thirds majority, which is only needed to get a sales tax increase proposal on the ballot.

“We are going to try to come up with a way to have a majority in the statehouse to try to address our states crumbling roads in a way that is fair equitable,” he said.

Overall, there appears a greater sense that education funding will have to be a part of any plan to get Democratic votes to raise money for roads. What form that will take is unclear. One source said so many ways have been brainstormed it is far from clear what would gain momentum.

But this source also said there is a general sense that one idea floated, of raising the sales tax from 6 percent to 8 percent as a way to generate money for schools, would be a difficult sell to the public.

And Rich Studley, president and CEO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which strongly favors raising money for roads, said convincing voters of raising the sales tax by 33 percent would be extremely tough and concerning on a policy level.

“A 7 percent sales tax would not be wildly out of line with surrounding states,” he said. “If you push that up to 8 percent, I think you start to have concerns about competitiveness, especially in the border counties.”

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