DETROIT – You know why Proposal 1 failed, and chances are you voted against it.
There are greater chances you have no idea what P.A. 51 is, even though it was directly connected to what you voted against on Tuesday.
P.A. 51 (view below) is an arcane dinosaur that passes for Michigan's road funding distribution law. It was written in 1951. It has been amended over the years and it would be kind to say that all of that plastic surgery performed over 64 years has it looking like Frankenstein and there is a logical, if not useful, reason for the problems this monster has caused. It was written in a vastly different era and hasn't stood up well to the test of time.
My training in business, finance and budgets is considerable. While not a Wharton MBA, I do pride myself in being able to pick up fairly complicated concepts quickly and explaining the intricacies in plain English to you the Local 4 audience. When I first bumped into P.A. 51 last summer while doing a story on gasoline taxes and how they are charged and distributed, it took me the better part of an entire day to understand the twists, turns and dead ends written into this bureaucratic behemoth of legendary proportion.
Simply stated: It funds "transportation." In reality, it distributes "transportation dollars" in ways that specifically dedicate money to roads. Because of its age it views airport runways and the purchase of public transit buses the same as it does roadways.
Consider that there were no highways in 1951. It also treats metro Detroit road commissions and their funding exactly the same as the outstate road commissions. Between its frozen-in-time intentions and the various tweaks that only complicated matters of the generations, the bill is a monument to a bygone era.
Herein lies the next chapter of this story. There is a movement growing in Lansing that in the aftermath of the disastrous Proposal 1 vote, P.A. 51 needs a complete overhaul. There is enough upheaval trying to figure out what to do next but this idea of a new P.A. 51 is the elephant in the room.
This is not a debate that is necessarily welcome and here's why: This is the ultimate "us against them" battle in Michigan. We all know there are many more roads and infinitely more concrete and asphalt in metro Detroit than the outstate counties.
If you were to, say, insert the miles traveled by motorists in the area into the funding formula, all of a sudden the highly populated areas of the state get a leg up on the rural areas for road funding. There isn't more a divisive idea for the representatives of the smaller communities and they will do everything they can to prevent this debate. In fact, they are so adamant they have already said it's a non-starter.
In case you weren't aware, the House Speaker and the Senate Majority leader both come from outstate areas. While they have considerable power, the metro Detroit area has far more legislators -- Democrat and Republicans -- which means there could be a highly unusual bipartisanship that terrifies the outstate legislators. The battle lines are drawn and it's not a pretty picture.
Senate Floor Leader Mike Kowall, of White Lake, is part of a team that has undertaken the Herculean task of rewriting P.A. 51, knowing full well it's an uphill battle. But he says the time has come. It's a job that has to be undertaken for the taxpayers of the state of Michigan that so depends on its roads for its commerce.
Lansing is always good for a political fight, and this one could very well be one for the ages. Stay tuned.
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