The Capital is hopping this spring with transportation and transit issues being brought up on almost a weekly basis.  Just to bring everyone into the loop, last week, the House Transportation committee held a hearing in Ann Arbor to discuss the impact of MDOT’s proposed road project delays.  The committee then heard from a group of municipal officials about the importance of increased funding for the transportation system, as a whole, in renewing Michigan’s communities.  Mayor Paul Schreiber of Ypsilanti talked specifically about the importance of transit in his city and the choices that many communities are facing as they struggle with budget deficits and try to balance budgets, while still funding priorities that are essential for their residents.  The message delivered to the legislators on the committee was unanimous, that they need to act quickly to increase funding for transportation.

Next week, two major events are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 4th…

First, the Michigan Transportation Team, a coalition of local and state road and transit agencies and business groups, is planning a Transportation Funding Rally at the Capital, starting at 10:30 am in the Capitol Rotunda.  Everyone interested in supporting increased funding for transit should try and attend and let the legislature know how important it is that they act quickly to increase funding for transportation in Michigan.  For more details on the event, visit www.mml.org or www.DriveMI.org.

Second, the House Intergovernmental & Regional Affairs and the Senate Commerce committees are planning a joint hearing at 3 pm on May 4th to begin debate on 12 bills that make up the TRAIN package (Transit Revitalization and Investment Act).  These bills focus on expanding a number of existing economic development tools available to communities to include transit-oriented development projects as projects eligible to be considered by those mechanisms.  These bills include changes to things like downtown development authorities, tax increment financing, commercial redevelopment, brownfield, and corridor improvement acts.  The committees will begin consideration of House Bills 5171, 5211, 5212, 5979, 5988, and 5989 and Senate Bills 1233-1238 at 3 pm in room 519 of the House Office Building, in downtown Lansing.

Look for these topics, along with the Regional Transit Authority legislation looking to better coordinate SMART and DDOT transit services in Southeast Michigan, Complete Streets legislation aimed at including transit, bicyclists and pedestrians in the road construction planning process, new federal high-speed rail grant funding, and the state transportation budget, to all be hotly debated in the coming weeks. 

Chris Hackbarth is the transportation policy advisor for the Michigan Municipal League.  Chris can be reached at 517-908-0303, or by email at chackbarth@mml.org.

Sobering news about how much time metro detroiters spend in traffic and how much its costing them. A new report from  The Texas Transportation Institute’s annual Urban Mobility Report says peak-time travelers in the Detroit area lose an average of 52 hours a year and waste 34 gallons of fuel because of traffic congestion and transit delays.  Isn’t it time state lawmakers passed comprehensive legislation raising the proper revenues to improve our roads, bridges and transit systems.  Tell them to just do it!

I’ve returned from the 2009 American Public Works Association (Michigan Chapter) annual meeting in Boyne, MI. The APWA is the association of public works directors and employees throughout the state. These are the folks who manage municipal infrastructure (water, sewer, and roads). Each year, I give a Legislative Update to the members of the APWA and try to provide some perspective on what is going on in the State Legislature. This year, my task was to educate them on the Transportation Funding Task Force (TF2) funding legislation that is coming soon.

Part of my presentation included sharing with them a spreadsheet from MDOT that shows what each Michigan city and village can expect to receive in new transportation money if the TF2 bills are enacted (available here: TF2 MTF Forecast Plan City Village 5-11-09.pdf (41.95 kb)). It was good to see them get excited about the possibilities of a legislature finally supporting the efforts to get good transportation in Michigan.

I had to remind them that they have the power to get this done, just like you do. I’ve been told many times by legislators “Yeah Dave, I get it. Transportation needs more money. But I’m only hearing it from you, not from my folks at home.” We need you to ACT NOW!

Here’s a sample resolution that you can have your city councils adopt (available here:5-18-09 A Resolution Requesting Enactment of the Transportation Funding Task Force Legislation.pdf (32.47 kb)). Here’s a link to our action center so that you can send emails or make calls. Let us know how you’re doing with these calls. Tell your friends and families to call. We need the legislature to ACT NOW on transportation funding.

Earlier today, Shea Charles (City Manager - Howell) and I testified in support of HB 4967 (Kandreavas) which will allow cities to establish TIFA zones around transit stations.  It’s very similiar to HB 6114 from last year - which Get Michigan Moving worked on.

It was good to sit next to one of members and help educate a number of legislators on the importance of everyone supporting transportation and transit projects.  We reminded folks that all taxing jurisdictions (cities, counties, school districts, libraries, et al) all benefit from th economic development projects that are created by transit projects and we all must be ready to work together to find a way to fund these projects.

This bill is just part of the overall Transportation Funding Task Force (TF2) legislation (HB 4961 - 4967) and the rest of the bills should be moving soon.  We still need your help to convince the Legislature to ACT NOW on transportation/transit funding.  Visit the Get Michigan Moving Action Center to help us do that.

Yesterday, there was a press conference at the Capitol in which Dan Gilmartin (MML CEO & Executive Director) called upon the Legislature to ACT NOW!  It is time for the Legislature to ACT NOW to adequately fund Michigan’s transportation and transit systems.  It is time to ACT NOW to enact necessary reforms and efficiencies so that all road and transit agencies will work together in a cooperative way.  It is time to ACT NOW to reverse the declining funding for our roads, bridges, airports, and transit systems (to the tune of over $600 million over the last two years).

It was one of the most attended press conferences I’ve seen in my time working in the Capitol and it was great to see that we are getting support from a number of Legislators.  We need to thank State Representatives Pam Byrnes (D-Saline), Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City), Lee Gonzales (D-Flint), Matthew Lori (R-Constantine). Marie Donigan (D-Royal Oak), Dick Ball (R-Laingsburg), and Andrew Kandrevas (D-Southgate) for being sponsors of some of the bills in this package.

More bills are expected to be introduced next week and we’ll keep you posted on those.  In the meantime, please contact your Legislator and ask them to ACT NOW for transportation funding!

Today I was a part of a meeting with 65 other people (including representatives from the Michigan Chamber, the AFL-CIO, the County Road Association, and others) to hear about some specifics on a proposal to increase transportation funding.  Going into the meeting, I had the feeling that this was going to be the same ole same ole with nothing new to report.  I’m glad to say that I was wrong.

The Governor’s staff give us a nine page document incorporating 13 specific bills that have been requested and received that will increase transportation funding by 90% over the next five year (from $3.1 billion to approximately $5.89 billion from state/local/federal sources).  Here’s breakdown of the specific bills:

1. A bill to create public-private partnerships(P3).  This would allow MDOT to enter into P3’s to build and operate transportation projects and could be a way to create toll roads in Michigan where necessary.
2. A bill to expand the Asset Management program to all public roads and transit programs.  Asset Management will provide consistency among long term agency plans and help us at the local level extend the transportation dollar to its maximum.
3. A bill to reward counties for planning multi-county corridors. - This will provide extra state aid to counties that jointly plan and build projects that function as multi-county through routes, lessening the amount needed to match on some federally funded projects.
4. A bill to establish a regionalization planing and grant program for transit projects.  This will allow for a customized approach for transit agencies to provide a coordinated effort to provide services for those areas that need/want transit.
5. A bill that will provide a New Transit Service Program.  This program could be funded with up to $50 million/year to support new rapid/regional transit services in the state.
6. A bill that will limit the amount of funds the Secretary of State receive from transportation collections and allow the Michigan Transportation Fund (MTF) to receive tolls as well as gas tax/vehicle registrations.
7. A bill to enable Tax Increment Financing Authorities for any transportation project.  This is what we tried to do with HB 6114 last year.
8. A bill to enable Private Investment Infrastructure (PIIF) Option.  This is similar to a TIFA but allows private investors to fund all or part of a transportation projects.
9. A bill allowing for a $25 local option fee to be placed on drivers licenses if approved by a county-wide vote for transportation projects.
10. A bill to implement a wholesale gas tax that begins on 1/1/10 and will cap annual gas tax increases by 5.5. cents in the first year and 3 cents each after that up to a maximum of a 90% increase in the gas tax over 7 years.
11. A bill to implement a wholesale diesel tax the same as the aforementioned bill.
12. A bill to increase vehicle registrations by 10% the first year and 20% a year for the next 4 years; and increase commercial vehicle registrations by 20% over the next 4 years.
13. A bill to increase the aviation fuel tax from 3 cents to 2 1/2 percent of the wholesale price.

The full transportation funding package can be found here: TF2 Transportation Funding Legislation.

Despite this being complicated, there is at least a target now that we can shoot people towards.  I’m looking forward to working on this and to having it enacted before the Legislature leaves for the summer break.  Please let me know if you have any questions on this.