LANSING – The chances of a road funding plan passing the Legislature appear to have dipped with top Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature, along with Governor Rick Snyder, hitting a standoff in negotiations.
With the partisan stalemate, House Republicans are now dangling the idea of trying to go it alone and pass a plan without Democratic votes. From the time Snyder declared finding $1.2 billion in additional road funding a top priority this year, the general thinking was it would take considerable Democratic support in the Legislature given the traditional Republican resistance to raising taxes.
Ari Adler, spokesperson for House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall), said Bolger will move forward without the Democrats if necessary.
“The Democrats are refusing to talk about any transportation plan – one that’s already proposed or one of their own,” Mr. Adler said. “Some might think that’s a problem, but Speaker Bolger might relish the freedom to work on fixing more than just roads now that the Democrats have walked away from the table. Many issues in Michigan need to be addressed. If the speaker doesn’t have to negotiate on fixing the roads, he’ll have more time to focus on policy changes to fix it all.”
Adler did not say it, but those tracking the issue said it almost certainly means that House Republicans would repeal the prevailing wage law that requires union-scale wages for a particular region on all government-led construction projects in that area. Democrats adamantly oppose repealing prevailing wage, and the proposal could be one of several carrots needed to persuade Republicans to vote for a transportation tax increase.
Top legislative Democrats criticized the potential House Republican tack in interviews.
“You don’t bring people to the table by threatening them,” Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) said. “And if we’re going to enter into negotiations, we’ve got to start building up some trust. Lame duck was not in a vacuum and there are residual issues we’ve overcome.”
That is a reference, of course, to the Republican majorities passing legislation in December making Michigan a right-to-work state and Snyder signing it.
House Minority Leader Tim Greimel (D-Auburn Hills), asked if he was concerned Republicans could pursue policies like repealing prevailing wage if the two parties cannot strike a deal on roads, said Republicans have shown a willingness to take many actions that harm the state.
“We’re not going to negotiate with terrorists who threaten all kinds of evil things if we don’t come to the table and negotiate,” he said.
Of the Republicans going it alone to pass a road funding plan, Greimel said, “If they want to unilaterally raise taxes on Michigan’s families yet again, then hey, they should feel free to go for it.”
Whitmer said much the same.
“They could try to do it on their own and fail and look bad,” she said. “They could try to do it on their own with a lot of punitive stuff which, going into an election, good luck with that. It’s in everyone’s best interest to put the work in and do this right.”
Word of the struggles comes a day after a meeting involving Snyder and the Legislative Quadrant that sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said involved raised voices and considerable tension.
Essentially, the stalemate comes down to:
Democrats as the minority party resisting committing to a specific roads proposal until majority Republicans can demonstrate they have large numbers of votes for a plan in their own caucuses. Democrats also want a firm commitment from Snyder and legislative Republicans not to act on prevailing wage; and
Republicans worrying that if they agree to sideline a prevailing wage repeal, Democrats will move the proverbial goalposts and want more as well as feeling like Democrats have offered nothing but bromides about what they could support.
Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw Township), heading up the road issue on the Senate side, disputed the idea that Republicans were readying to try to find the votes within their caucuses in the absence of Democratic votes.
Kahn said his sense is the current difficulty comes from figuring out which side goes first.
“It’s like a junior high school dance where the boys stand on one side of the room and the girls stand on the other side of the room,” he said.
Kahn said he and Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) have said they would not pursue a prevailing wage repeal and noted that House Republicans shelved language in the budget penalizing school districts, public universities, local governments and community colleges that implemented new or extended contracts just before the right-to-work laws took effect.
“All those are positive,” he said.
Still, sources tracking the issue said not to mistake Bolger’s comments for saber-rattling. They said Republicans are realizing they may very well have to act alone on the legislation.
If Republicans were to press ahead without the Democrats, it would mean scrapping one portion of the framework getting the most serious consideration. The plan, which would involve removing the sales tax from gasoline purchases, establishing a higher gasoline tax that goes entirely to roads and raising the sales tax to 7 percent to make up the lost revenue to schools, local governments and others, would need something other than raising the sales tax rate.
Raising the sales tax rate requires a two-thirds majority, and that is impossible in the House without at least 15 Democrats, presuming all 59 Republicans voted yes.
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