LANSING – The Michigan House and Senate majority and

minority leaders met for a Legislative Quadrant meeting Thursday with Lt.

Governor Brian Calleyto discuss a road funding agreement, but neither

side nor chamber indicated that they were anywhere near an agreement.

“The majority leader is having regular communication

with Speaker Cotter and Minority Leader Ananich,” Amber McCann,

spokesperson for SenateMajority

Leader Arlan Meekhof (R-West Olive), said of HouseSpeaker

Kevin Cotter(R-Mount Pleasant) and SenateMinority

Leader Jim Ananich(D-Flint). “The majority leader is very willing to

be part of a compromise. Discussions are still progressing. It’s not exactly

soup yet, but he’s hopeful to have something to look at soon.”

All officials interviewed said the meeting went well and was

productive, though no one outlined what productive meant.

House Minority

Leader Tim Greimel(D-Auburn Hills) called it a constructive

discussion, and said all the leaders were looking forward to the next meeting

which will likely take place next week.

Sara Wurfel, spokesperson forGovernor

Rick Snyder, said leaders hope to develop a framework of an agreement

sometime shortly after Labor Day to bring to the full Legislature.

Snyder did not participate in the meeting, even by phone, as

he finishing up his latest trade mission to China. Calley chaired the meeting

in the Executive Office.

The only agreement on the issue that seems to have developed

since the epic defeat of Proposal 15-1 in May is that a new plan will have to

include some spending cuts and some new revenue, but there has been disagreement

for some time on how much of either category should be had. The House sent a

proposal to the Senate in June that included existing revenue, a small amount

of new revenue and an elimination of the Earned Income Tax Credit (SeeGongwer

Michigan Report, June 10, 2015).

The Senate was never quite keen on using certain funds the

House proposed using for road funding – namely funds that would otherwise go

toward the Michigan Economic Development Corporation – and sent back to the

House in July a package raised the gasoline tax and creates parity with how the

state taxes diesel fuel (SeeGongwer

Michigan Report, July 1, 2015). The Senate proposal also included an income

tax rollback inSB

414

*. It also called

for redirecting $700 million in current spending to roads.

Three bills,HB

4612 *,HB

4613 *andHB

4615 *, were sent to a

conference committee in mid-August by the House. The bills modify registration

fees, modify replacement warranties on road repairs and change the gas tax,

respectively. The next day, the House adjourned until after the Labor Day

holiday with no action on road funding. And a proposal that would have raised

$600 million in new revenue and used $600 million in existing revenue (though it

had always been unclear from where) failed to win enough support (SeeGongwer

Michigan Report, August 19, 2015).

Snyder said last week that the roads solution, as important

as it is, cannot be viewed in isolation and completed at the detriment of other

state key state functions (SeeGongwer

Michigan Report, August 27, 2015).

This story was published by Gongwer News Service. To

subscribe, click on www.gongwer.com