Levin, Stabenow Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Increase Michigan's Fair Share of Highway Funding
Levin, Stabenow Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Increase Michigan's Fair Share of Highway Funding
Bill would create jobs, increase funding for road projects
Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., today introduced the bipartisan Highway Funding Equity Act of 2005, which would allow states to get back a fairer share of what they contribute in gas taxes to the highway trust fund. Specifically, the bill would increase states' minimum guaranteed highway funding to 95% of a state's share of contributions to the Highway Trust Fund in gas tax payments, up from the current level of 90.5%. Donor states like Michigan currently send more federal gasoline tax dollars to Washington than they receive back while subsidizing the road and bridge projects of other states.
"For decades, highway funding has been based on antiquated formulas which force some states to subsidize road and bridge projects of other states. We believe it is simply unfair to perpetuate this imbalance," said Levin, who authored the bill along with Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio. "Our bill would allow states to get back more of what they contribute in gas taxes to the highway trust fund, and it would bring some equity to the process."
"The long-delayed transportation bill isn't just critical for our nation's roads and transit systems, it's also an important jobs bill, creating 47,000 good-paying jobs for every billion dollars in highway investment," Stabenow said. "This legislation will help spur economic growth and create good-paying jobs."
The Highway Funding Equity Act of 2005 has two components:
The bill increases the minimum guaranteed funding from 90.5% to 95% of a state's share of contributions to the Highway Trust Fund.
The bill ensures that states with a population density of less than 50 individuals per square mile are able to provide road systems needed for national mobility, economic prosperity and national defense. Under the 2000 census, 15 states fall below this threshold.
"Although we have made some progress through years of fighting - Michigan was getting only 75 cents on our gas tax dollar in 1978, for instance - we still have a long way to go to achieve fairness for Michigan and other states," Levin said. "At stake are tens of millions of dollars a year in additional funding to pay for badly needed transportation improvements in our state and the jobs that go with it."
Based on Federal Highway Administration calculations, Michigan would have received over $55 million in additional highway funds in the 2004 fiscal year under the 95 percent minimum guarantee bill. Historically about 20 states, including Michigan, known as "donor" states, have sent more gas tax dollars to the Highway Trust Fund in Washington than were returned in transportation infrastructure spending. The remaining 30 states, known as "donee" states, have received more transportation funding than they paid into the Highway Trust Fund.
http://stabenow.senate.gov/press/2005/041205FairShareOfHighwayFunding.htm