Remember all the talk about in Lansing about staying in legislative session until the road tax solution is resolved--well that is long forgotten in Lansing. The legislature has left for the summer or until called back by their leadership.
Seems like the public is starting to lose patience with this practice of not resolving issues like this one. All the polls say they want the legislature to work together to get solutions. The legislature views these long legislative breaks (two, four and six week breaks) as a chance to get back to their districts and visit with voters to take their pulse. Voters seem to view them as little more than "vacations" or "work avoidance". One west Michigan voter told me she was most steamed about all these break times and especially two weeks for deer season. She said: " Who gets two weeks for deer season?" Don't know, but this issue of legislative breaks and legislative gridlock is getting to be more and more of a concern to voters. Somewhere in between the two extreme views is the truth, but it does not help when we have an issue like road repair and road revenue/tax that does not seem to get completed or takes toooooo long. The problem here is that everyday the public are driving on deteriorating roads and feeling their cars get banged around on their way to work, to play, to worship--everyday, everywhere.
So hopefully legislators will spend time during this potential six week break to hold town forums with real voters and not just special interests, where they can explain what is going on and what makes this issue so difficult to resolve. The the voters back home can respond to that information and tell these lawmakers what they think. The dialog is important and useful. All sides need to use this time wisely and effectively if we are going to resolve this road funding issue.
Bridge Magazine has a good article on the road issue and the negotiations :
http://bridgemi.com/2015/07/state-roads-legislation-getting-bumpier-than-the-roads-that-need-fixing/