Roads to dominate Snyder’s toned-down State of the State
By Paul Egan and Kathleen Gray Free Press Lansing Bureau
— Associated Press
LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder’s mission to reinvent Michigan hit a rough patch late in 2012 when fast-track approval of right-to-work legislation during the Legislature’s lame-duck session drew huge protests and criticism.
So, the governor is expected to ease his foot off the change accelerator when he presents his third State of the State address at the Capitol on Wednesday.
Before December’s lame-duck session, Snyder was expected to talk about sweeping and controversial changes to the way Michigan funds K-12 schools, in addition to presenting a contentious plan to raise billions of dollars to fix and maintain the state’s roads and bridges.
Now, discussion of the school funding plan — which critics see as a veiled school voucher plan and which was sure to stir more outrage — has been pushed back, and the road funding plan is the only major initiative Snyder is expected to unveil.
“That pivot was very noticeable,” and was likely prompted by the complexity of the school funding issue, in addition to a desire to tone down the level of rancor, said Jeff Williams, chief executive officer of the Lansing think tank Public Sector Consultants.
Rather than stirring more anger, Snyder has “got a little bit of healing or soothing that needs to be applied,” Williams said.
Snyder also deserves a chance to take a victory lap for the huge volume of less-contentious changes he and the GOP-controlled Legislature have implemented in the last two years, he said.
Snyder — who isn’t expected to make any announcements about the city of Detroit’s financial crisis — still plans to tackle the school funding issue, just not on Wednesday, spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said.
“He certainly doesn’t shy away from anything that is tough,” she said.
The road funding plan alone could require much of Snyder’s political capital and all of his skills of persuasion. The Legislature is resistant to tax increases and the Democratic minority — whose numbers are strengthened in the House — are still fuming over right-to-work and other measures they say were rammed through the Legislature in an undemocratic fashion.
“We can’t wait any longer” on a road funding plan, Wurfel said. “Our economic comeback and building for the future completely depend on our transportation infrastructure.”
It is estimated the state needs an extra $1.5 billion annually just to preserve roads and bridges as they are today. More money will be needed to make improvements.
Details of the governor’s plan haven’t been released, but Snyder hasn’t backed away from the proposal he floated in 2011 that would increase vehicle registration fees and fuel taxes, possibly while moving gasoline taxes from the price paid at the pump to the wholesale level.
For any road funding plan to pass the Legislature it will almost certainly require Democratic votes — thus the talk of the need for healing.
“I want to see if there will be any olive branches that will be extended,” said Minority House Leader Rudy Hobbs, D-South-field.
Democrats vowed across-the-board obstruction immediately after Snyder signed right-to-work legislation after saying for two years the issue was too divisive and not on his agenda. They were more conciliatory last week, though a decision to tout right-to-work in an ad associated with the popular Pure Michigan promotion campaign stirred up some of the earlier anger.
State Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, said there is plenty of common ground on a range of issues, including transportation and education.
“I’m hoping we’ll come out of the gate and put the lame duck behind us and find some common ground,” she said last Wednesday, before the dust-up over the Pure Michigan ad. “I think people are ready because the divisive days of lame duck are miserable for everybody.”
Snyder’s signature on right-to-work, though it angered Democrats, may have earned him additional goodwill with Republicans normally reluctant to approve a tax increase for roads or any other purpose.
“As we look to move Michigan forward, we … must finally answer the billion-dollar question of how to provide quality roads to Michigan’s drivers and a high-quality infrastructure for Michigan’s job creators,” House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, said at the opening of the Legislature Wednesday.
After making sure existing road dollars are efficiently spent, “we must convince road users how and when we will pay for this vital service,” Bolger said.
Aside from roads, Snyder will talk about education, including the need for improvements to early childhood education and the need to pass a bill that died in the last Legislature that would codify the recently created Education Achievement Authority for underperforming schools.
He also may have a message for university leaders who are waiting hopefully for his Feb. 7 budget presentation.
Business Leaders for Michigan, a Detroit-based group of business executives backing the proposed improvements for roads and bridges, also is proposing an extra $100 million a year for higher education as a key to improving Michigan’s economy.
Maxine Berman, a former Democratic state representative who now teaches political science at Central Michigan University, said Snyder has been successful in implementing a large swath of his agenda, but he will want to deliver a positive and nondivisive message Wednesday because he will need Democratic votes not just for his road funding plan, but for other issues that will arise in the next two years.
“I think he’s going to be looking forward to having to work with the Legislature in a different way than he has had to in the past,” she said.
• CONTACT PAUL EGAN: 517-372-8660 OR
PEGAN@FREEPRESS.COM
MANDI WRIGHT/DETROIT FREE PRESS
Gov. Rick Snyder’s road funding proposal is likely to include increasing vehicle registration fees and fuel taxes.
UNIONS CALLING FOR PROTESTS
The UAW and other labor unions are calling on members to protest before and during Gov. Rick Snyder’s State of the State address in Lansing.
Union demonstrators are planning to be outside the Capitol to protest GOP policies they say are hurting the middle class. They’re especially upset about a new law ending requirements that workers pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.
The UAW wants members to bring families, friends, co-workers and children to the demonstration.
STATE OF THE STATE
• Gov. Rick Snyder is to deliver his third State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the Capitol at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
• The speech will be carried live on most public TV and radio stations and shown live on the Internet atwww.livestream.com/snyderlive .
• Transportation is expected to be a major theme of the speech, with Snyder outlining a plan to raise billions in revenues over the next few years to fix and maintain Michigan’s roads and bridges.
• Making the best use of Michigan talent and matching skills with job vacancies are also expected to be discussed.
• Education, public safety and fiscal responsibility also will be highlighted, said Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel.
"We Have to Reinvent Ourselves!"
ReplyDelete