LANSING – A Michigan Senate work group assembled after the chamber could not reach an agreement on how best to fund infrastructure met on Thursday and reviewed some 48 bills related to the subject, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville said, and will likely address requests for proposals and the bidding process in the fall.

“Some road projects don’t require an RFP, a bidding process, so we’re going to require that,” Richardville (R-Monroe) told Gongwer News Service.

The majority leader had long said that he planned to use the work group to look at comprehensive, long-term solutions, and he and five other senators did just that Thursday.

In addition to reviewing the bidding process and how many proposals are submitted before a project is picked, Richardville said the group also discussed ways to improve warranties for certain jobs over a dollar amount, as well as the wear and tear of the roads as it relates to truck weights or the number of axles per truck.

“How do we guarantee a warranty, that a sufficient number of companies have had a chance to weigh in, and that they provide guarantees for the work they do, and that the wear and tear is being addressed with trucks and trailers,” he said of the topics discussed among himself, Senate Minority Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing), and others. “Before we put money into solving problems, we must help to ensure that money will be spent wisely.”

The House has passed a couple of bills related to the subject, but it was not immediately clear how those would be or not be part of the solution Richardville seeks. HB 4251 , for instance, would allow a township to require a county road commission to contract for work to be done on a road project through competitive bidding, and if a township contributed 50 percent or more to the cost of a project, the road commission would have to submit both the competitive bid process and the final contract to the township board for approval. The bill was approved by the Senate with an S-3 substitute in mid-June, but has yet to see any more action in the House.

And HB 5167 would permit the Department of Transportation to contract with private sector companies and local road agencies to perform road work and maintenance, as well as make local road agencies subject to the same competitive bidding requirements that apply to the department. That bill was unanimously approved in mid-June by the Senate, but included some amendments and, again, the House has not done much with the bill.

As to truck weights and fines or fees associated with those, one bill (HB 5452 ) was defeated in the Senate and is pending reconsideration, while another (HB 5453 ) never left the Senate Infrastructure Modernization Committee.

Richardville said he hopes to tackle such issues in September, but he is not looking past the fact that more money is needed for the roads. Since the House and the administration of Governor Rick Snyder are so far not included in this work group, Mr. Richardville said he first wants to talk to House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) about ironing out the differences in the various pieces of legislation that have moved between the House and the Senate.

After that, he said, they will tackle to the funding aspect and how what is paid at the pump is (or currently is not) distributed to transportation funding and projects. The funding aspect is perhaps the biggest point of difference between the House and the Senate. While the House had suggested some shifts in funding sources, the Senate looked to possibly increasing taxes and using that revenue strictly for transportation.

“I asked the group to come back on how to fill the revenue gap (in the funding formula),” Richardville said.

On the minority side, their priorities remain the same, Whitmer spokesperson Robert McCann said. Democrats will continue to seek a solution to road funding that is not put on the backs of the middle class, he said, and would involve a bit of investment from everyone.

“Our members have an interest in getting this done. … To be clear, the hold-up was never on our side,” McCann said. “Now that we’re back to the drawing board, it’s encouraging we’re at the table, but the question is are they taking what we’re saying seriously or is this just lip service.”

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