LANSING – There was no decision to re-refer legislation authorizing a new bridge crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, on Thursday, but Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville raised the specter of adding a constitutional amendment to the debate.

In a radio interview with Frank Beckmann on WJR-AM, Mr. Richardville (R-Monroe) said the Legislature could act on a constitutional amendment prohibiting any state money from being used for the new bridge, which would protect against future Legislatures subsidizing the New International Trade Crossing.

“The number one concern that a majority of the people in the Senate have is that no Michigan taxpayer dollars can be spent on the bridge,” Richardville said. “Legislatures are responsible for the time they are here, but most of the work that we do, the substantive work, has an effect in the future and we’ve got make sure we do this right.”

Although the Canadian government has offered Michigan $550 million for its share of the bridge’s construction costs, there has been significant concern costs could be higher than that or that lower-than-expected toll revenues would put the state on the hook to pay the Canadians back.

A constitutional amendment would protect the taxpayers from that cost now and into the future, Richardville said, which is why it’s being looked at as a possibility.

While the constitutional protection could help corral some more yes votes for SB 410 and SB 411 , actually including an amendment as part of the package adds increased complexity to the bridge debate, which many have said already is overly complex.

Besides the two-thirds vote required in both chambers to pass a constitutional amendment, the voters would also have to approve it through a general election ballot at least 60 days after the Legislature passes it.

If lawmakers stuck to the traditional election calendar, the earliest that could happen is in February when some local governments hold elections and the Republicans hold their presidential primary, however, that in and of itself could push the issue back to a May, August or even November ballot.

Richardville said there are still many undecided votes in the Senate, and “I think it’s up to the governor to talk to some of those folks.

“I consider myself to primarily be the manager of the process. I think we’ve done a good job of managing the process by the way.”

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

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