LANSING – Tensions between lawmakers regarding the Detroit River International Crossing study boiled over Tuesday as the conference committee on the Department of Transportation budget convened and could not reach agreement to move the final 2008-09 budget to the floors of the House and Senate.

A vote to move the bill to the chambers resulted in a stalemate, party-line 3-3 vote, as did an amendment to the conference report that would have inserted the Senate’s language on DRIC. The committee then recessed just as the Senate went into session. The meeting was later adjourned and the action, or inaction, leaves the MDOT budget in limbo.

A transportation group later put out a press release stating the rejection of the budget signaled the start of a government shutdown. The Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association said the shutdown procedures would include decommissioning construction zones and laying off as many as 2,750 MDOT employees at a cost of $635,000 in state money to implement a shutdown and the loss of $2.5 million in federal match dollars.

“While state policymakers say they want to fix our transportation system, they have failed to do anything but bicker,” said Mike Nystrom, vice president of public and government relations for MITA. “And it is not just the MDOT shutdown. Just look at their track record – last year’s near-government shutdown, flirting with disaster by missing a federal deadline earlier this summer on approving federal airport projects, the refusal to act on the transportation funding crisis – the list goes on.”

Rep. Lee Gonzales (D-Flint) said although barbs were thrown between members of both parties during the meeting, he still believed the meeting allowed lawmakers to see how urgently the budget needs to be passed in order to prevent a shutdown of construction projects.

Later on, Gonzales said he hoped an agreement could be forged by the end of the week.

The conference committee report, as rejected by legislative Republicans, includes no boilerplate wording regarding the DRIC study. The objective for Democrats is to pass the budget to keep the construction projects rolling, but continue to negotiate with Republicans on what to do regarding DRIC.

But Sen. Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt) and Sen. Bill Hardiman (R-Kentwood) said while they don’t want to shutdown construction projects, they could not sign the conference committee report without boilerplate language regarding DRIC.

Cropsey argued the House is “intransigent” to including DRIC language outlining what the department already has told lawmakers it can’t do without further legislative approval. He said the DRIC study should look at what a new crossing would do to the current three crossings and he emphasized that the Ambassador Bridge company already has spent $500 million purchasing property in anticipation of twinning the bridge.

“They have put their money where their mouth is,” he said.

Cropsey went on to say that the Senate’s proposed DRIC language is similar to what the Legislature enacted in the current transportation budget and including the boilerplate is necessary for accountability of taxpayer dollars.

The language allows the DRIC study to continue, but does not bind the state to enacting the study’s final recommendation. The department would be prohibited from spending money on actions other than those associated with the study, so it could not do things like acquire federal permits or condemn property. And any further expenditures related to implementing the DRIC study would also require prior legislative approval under the Senate version.

Rep. Matt Gillard (D-Alpena) first reacted to Cropsey’s speech by saying, “wow” and shaking his head. He went on to characterize Mr. Cropsey’s statements as a Senate Republicans’ “last ditch, hail Mary” effort on behalf the Ambassador Bridge when most other entities in southeast Michigan want to move forward and not see the DRIC issue drag on further.

He charged Senate Republicans were standing in the way of construction jobs. Gillard said the Senate’s DRIC language would tie the state to a project Canadian officials have rejected.

A suggestion from Sen. Glenn Anderson (D-Westland) that the committee approve the report and let the other 142 lawmakers decide what they think about the bill was not heeded.

Gonzales said the DRIC debate is the same one lawmakers had in deciding the Mackinac Bridge and Ambassador Bridge. Hardiman expressed optimism that a resolution on DRIC can occur, though he didn’t say when. The new fiscal year begins in 13 days.

Included in the proposed conference report is $3.6 billion in spending, which is $252 million, or 7.5 percent, more than the current fiscal year. The increase of $260 million in federal funding is offset in the budget by a $37 million reduction in state restricted fund spending. The Legislature would concur with the administration in most of the department’s spending plans under the report.

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

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