Gov. Snyder discusses new bridge and right to work: Gov. Rick Snyder said he will push to get a second bridge built and the Right to Work law is not good for Michigan at this time.
Detroit— Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday jumped into the simmering debate over right-to-work legislation with some strong words.
"I don't want to see a bill on my desk," the governor told The Detroit News, when asked whether he'd sign a bill if one were passed by the state Legislature.
Right-to-work is one of the top issues the Legislature is expected to take up this year. Supporters view the legislation as a way to protect Michiganians against compulsory union membership; opponents view it as a way to depress Michigan's wages.
"Right-to-work is not on my agenda," Snyder told a business leaders forum earlier Friday. "We have far more important things. How about this road issue?"
Snyder has discouraged lawmakers from taking up the labor issue, saying it's too divisive and will distract lawmakers from the task of creating jobs.
The Republican governor, who made several stops in Metro Detroit, spent Friday addressing many of the topics raised in Wednesday's State of the State address, saying:
He didn't rule out appointing an emergency manager to Detroit if the city receives an unfavorable report from a state team reviewing its finances.
He wouldn't say how he hoped to fund badly needed improvements to state roads and infrastructure. He said it was premature to talk about raising fuel taxes or charging higher registration fees. Whatever source he cites will lead to immediate attempts to overturn the idea, he said.
He urged business leaders to be vocal in their support for the New International Trade Crossing bridge between Detroit and Windsor.
He said he will tie more education funding this year to best practices, and schools that aren't interested in making changes need not apply for money.
He suggested he wants to phase out the industrial personal property tax and replace the money with funds from expiring tax credits.
He also said he was unperturbed by critics who said his address lacked substance.
"I'm not interested in building a legacy," he said.
To maintain last year's pace doesn't make sense in 2012, he added. "A lot of people were worried I was going to come in with another wave of policy stuff. Well, no, it's an election year."
Despite Snyder's opposition to right-to-work, the issue is heating up and dividing Republicans in the Legislature.
Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville of Monroe came under attack in an email by the Freedom to Work Coalition, a group favoring right-to-work legislation, for his statement last week there is not enough support in the Senate to pass a right-to-work bill — and for his opposition to such legislation.
The group's chairman, Terry Bowman, who did not return a call late Friday, accused Richardville of being "out of touch with his party, his constituents and the needs of his state."
Richardville spokeswoman Amber McCann said she'd seen the group email.
"To date, no one has introduced a right-to-work bill in either the House or the Senate," McCann said late Friday. "Majority Leader Richardville has been clear that he does not personally support a true right-to-work bill. However, (he) would never stand in the way of the democratic process and certainly expects there to be discussion and debate in the Legislature regarding this issue."
House Speaker Jase Bolger of Marshall will not take a position until the issue has been sufficiently discussed in the lower chamber, his spokesman Ari Adler said. Adler said he's unaware of the level of support for a right-to-work bill in the House.
"There's been no count done to see if there's enough votes to pass right-to-work or not, because that's premature," Adler said. "We have not had the full honest and open discussion about right-to-work that needs to happen."
Education a priority
On education, Snyder said incentive money will go to schools that come up with the best ideas for improving efficiencies while nurturing academic growth.
"A school district will have an opportunity to go for those dollars or not," he said. "The state is simply not an ATM machine."
Snyder also said he wants to expand opportunities for dual enrollment, where students can get credit for college classes they take while attending high school.
He said he got college credit for just one of many higher education classes he took while still in high school, and was forced to sit through high school government even though he'd already passed it with an A in college.
"That's dumb," he said.
Eliminating industrial tax
Snyder wants to phase out the state's personal property tax, but focus first on the industrial portion of the tax. There also are commercial and utility components to it.
He would replace the revenue as tax credits begin to expire in two to three years. Expiring tax credits should free up roughly half a billion dollars over the next five to 10 years.
The industrial tax applies to items and equipment used in the manufacturing processes — things such as stamping machines, tooling devices and robotics, Snyder spokesman Sara Wurfel said.
"(The industrial PPT is) the part where you find the missed allocation of jobs because of this tax being fundamentally unfair," Snyder said Thursday.
Transportation push
Snyder pledged before the Detroit Regional Chamber breakfast Friday to continue to push for improved transportation in Michigan and a second bridge to Canada.
He made the bridge issue a rallying cry since he has faced opposition from some Republican legislators and a television commercial campaign by Detroit International Bridge Co. owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun, who operates the Ambassador Bridge and would rather build his own second structure.
"The main impediment is that a single special interest has spent more than $5 million on advertising," Snyder said.
"My understanding is there's going to be another round of advertising."
Snyder reiterated his message that a new bridge would boost international trade, create long-term jobs and spur many short-term construction jobs in Detroit.
He stressed that the project would be funded with money from Canada and not Michigan taxpayers.
Opponents have argued that the state still would be responsible for operational expenses.
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Detroit News Staff Writer Francis X. Donnelly contributed.
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