Bill Text: MI SR0069 | 2009-2010 | 95th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: A resolution urging the United States Congress to enact legislation to waive for two years the requirement that Michigan match federal highway funds.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 18-6)
Status: (Passed) 2009-07-15 - Adopted [SR0069 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2009-SR0069-Enrolled.html
SR-69, As Adopted by Senate, July 15, 2009
Senator Richardville offered the following resolution:
Senate Resolution No. 69.
A resolution urging the United States Congress to enact legislation to waive for two years the requirement that Michigan match federal highway funds.
Whereas, The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has recently eliminated or delayed 134 road and bridge preservation projects from its 2009-2013 Five-Year Program, totaling $740 million. The department’s decision is based on the unfortunate reality that the state can no longer afford the required 20 percent matching funds; and
Whereas, MDOT announced that, by 2011, it will be forced to return $576 million in federal aid because the state is no longer in the financial position to provide the federally required 20 percent match, or $102 million. This disastrous scenario gets even worse as projected shortfalls to the highway and maintenance program are $111 million in FY 2012 and $124 million in FY 2013; and
Whereas, Michigan continues to have the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 14.1 percent. In addition, Michigan is the only state in the country to have surpassed the average national unemployment rate by 40 percent over the past 24 months. If the state is unable to sustain the current level of transportation investment, MDOT estimates that more than 17,000 additional jobs are at risk; and
Whereas, Over the past decade, Michigan has lost more than 350,000 manufacturing jobs. Consequently, the state ranking in per-capita income has fallen dramatically, from sixteenth to thirty-third. At the present, the state’s per capita income is 11 percent below the national average, the lowest figure since the federal government started compiling the data in 1929; and
Whereas, Since the 1950s, Michigan has been a federal funding "donor" state, receiving less in federal funds than it collects through the 18.4 cent per gallon federal motor fuel excise tax. Under the current federal highway authorization act, this disparity in the distribution of highway funds continues. Implausibly, Michigan receives 92 cents on every $1 it sends to Washington, D.C.; and
Whereas, Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress waived the state matching grant requirement in order to stimulate the economy by putting people back to work. During these nearly unprecedented economic times in Michigan, this waiver needs to be applied to the allocation of federal highway funds, particularly since Michigan has been subsidizing other states' roads for half a century; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate, That we urge the United States Congress to enact legislation to waive for two years the requirement that Michigan match federal highway funds; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the United States Department of Transportation, and members of the Michigan congressional delegation.
