Public Act 361 of 2004

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• Introduced by Rep. Marc Shulman (R) on February 11, 2004, to provide a "template" or "place holder" for a Fiscal Year 2004-2005 Department of Transportation budget. This bill contains no appropriations, but may be amended at a later date to include them.
  • Referred to the House Appropriations Committee on February 11, 2004.
  • Reported in the House on March 25, 2004, with the recommendation that the substitute (H-1) be adopted and that the bill then pass.
  • Substitute offered in the House on March 30, 2004, to replace the executive proposal for this budget, contained in House Bill 5614, with a budget that expresses policy differences between the Republican-majority in the House and Governor Jennifer Granholm on certain spending items and funding sources. See House-passed version for major features, and House Fiscal Agency analysis for detailed analysis (the “Text and Analysis” at the top of this bill’s MichiganVotes.org page is a link to this). The substitute passed in the House by voice vote on March 30, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Tupac Hunter (D) on March 30, 2004, to strip out a provision that advances money to local road authorities from the rail grade crossing account for the construction of rail grade separations. The sponsor reports that this provision will reduce the level of funding for metro-Detroit public transportation systems. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on March 30, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on March 30, 2004, to make minor revisions to certain spending line items. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on March 30, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Jim Howell (R) on March 30, 2004, to require the department to fund a pilot project utilizing a bituminous road surfacing mix which incorporates recycled scrap tires. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on March 30, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Rick Shaffer (R) on March 30, 2004, to establish that it is the intent of the legislature that the department build a full limited access highway U.S. 131 freeway from the Indiana state line to north of the city of Three Rivers to Lovers Lane. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on March 30, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Leon Drolet (R) on March 30, 2004, to eliminate a $7.1 million state subsidy for the Port Huron to Chicago Amtrak line. The amendment failed in the House (27 to 80) on March 30, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Passed in the House (106 to 1) on March 30, 2004, the House version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 Department of Transportation budget. This appropriates $3.295 billion in adjusted gross spending, all of which is state road tax and federal money, compared to $3.136 billion, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003. The House version authorizes approximately $2.5 million more spending than the governor recommended. The House does not include funding for recommended by the governor to replace road design and engineering work now contracted out to private-sector firms with 126 new government employees. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the Senate on March 31, 2004.
  • Referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 31, 2004.
  • Substitute offered in the Senate on September 29, 2004, to replace the House version of this budget with a Senate version which expresses policy differences between the bodies on certain spending items. See Senate-passed version for details. The substitute passed in the Senate by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
• Passed in the Senate (35 to 0) on September 29, 2004, the Senate version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 Department of Transportation budget. This appropriates $3.283 billion in adjusted gross spending, all of which is state road tax and federal money, compared to $3.136 billion, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003. The Senate version authorizes $8.9 million less spending than the governor recommended, shifts $10 million in public transportation money to road projects, and includes the additional government employees requested by the governor for engineering work now contracted out to the private sector. It gives the legislature veto power over the department’s five-year plan for Michigan roads, and includes more accountability and controls over employee travel and other non-core spending. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the House on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Larry Julian (R) on September 29, 2004, to earmark $100,000 of the money appropriated for "intercity bus service development" for marketing efforts. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on September 29, 2004, to strengthen a prohibition on the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) using money appropriated for other purposes to support the operations of the multi-modal transportation services bureau. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on September 29, 2004, to strip out a provision prohibiting local public transit agencies from developing new routes that duplicate existing routes served by private bus companies, which applies to local transit agencies entering the cross county bus route business in competition with private sector firms. The stricken provision also requires local transit agencies to allow private companies to bid on regional transportation services . The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on September 29, 2004, to strip out language that creates an independent state level complaint process and sanctions associated with certain activities by local transit agencies, such as renting out buses in competition with private sector services, and replace it with a provision that just requires complaints to be filed and forwarded. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on September 29, 2004, to replace a mandate that the Department of Transportation ensure that local transit agencies meet certain stated goals with a provision that instead only requires the department to "work to" ensure these goals, and which adds certain reporting requirements related to shortcomings by the agencies. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on September 29, 2004, to establish a process by which the legislature has some input on how the Department of Transportation spends certain federal funds. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on September 29, 2004, to require the Department of Transportation to ensure that local transit agencies have adequate wheelchair lifts available on "demand response" vehicles (call-and-ride services) to meet the needs of persons with disabilities. This would require the call-and-ride services to either buy more of these lifts (even though these services often use smaller vehicles such as cars or mini-vans), or to cut back service. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on September 29, 2004, to move back the deadline on a report to the legislature on the status of local transit agency vehicle fleets, and require the report only be accurate "to the best of the department director's knowledge". The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on September 29, 2004, to authorize additional engineering division personnel. Note: This adds six more employees in addition to the 126 new employees requested by the governor to replace engineering work now contracted out to private-sector firms. The amendment comes after the Senate cut 12 staffers from the "Performance Excellence Division," which engages in certain MDOT employee morale boosting activities. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R) on September 29, 2004, to establish that the Detroit People Mover is not a "transit authority" that is automatically eligible for certain state subsidies. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Lauren Hager (R) on September 29, 2004, to strip out a provision prohibiting Amtrak to use part of its $7.1 million state subsidy for marketing. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on September 29, 2004.
• Passed in the House (102 to 1) on September 29, 2004, to concur with the Senate-passed version of the bill, except for changes to the wording of various non-spending “boilerplate” provisions. Among other things, the House prohibits using funds earmarked for bus service to subsidize the Detroit “People Mover,” and removes a prohibition on Amtrak using any of its $7.1 million state subsidy for marketing (that might take customers from private bus companies). It makes various administrative restrictions and requirements imposed by the Senate less stringent. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the Senate on September 30, 2004, to concur with the House amendments to the Senate version of the bill. The vote took place just hours before the start of the new fiscal year, the House had already adjourned for five weeks, and without an affirmative vote the Department of Transportation would not have been authorized to spend any money as of Oct. 1, 2004. Passed in the Senate (34 to 2) on September 30, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Signed with line-item veto by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on October 1, 2004.
• Received in the House on November 4, 2004.