LANSING – Gov. Rick Snyder wouldn’t say Tuesday which of the controversial lame-duck bills he will sign and which he will veto.
But he rejected suggestions he might sign bills he otherwise finds wanting in return for votes on lame-duck initiatives he supports — such as increased landfill tipping fees and water charges to raise money for environmental cleanups.
“I’m not a horse trader — I’ve never been known for that,” Snyder said after a briefing at which he and Lt. Gov. Brian Calley touted the administration's accomplishments of the last eight years.
Several bills moving in the Republican-controlled lame-duck Legislature appear designed to strip powers from Democrats who are about to move into the offices of governor, attorney general and secretary of state, after eight years or more of Republican control. Other bills water down adopted voter initiatives that would increase the minimum wage, require employers to provide paid sick leave, and make other changes.
Snyder, meanwhile, has seen little or no action on two bills he wants passed. One would significantly increase the per-ton fee the state charges those who dump waste at landfill sites, with the extra money put toward cleaning up contaminated sites. Another would raise money to replace crumbling water and sewage infrastructure by imposing about a $20-per-household annual surcharge on water bills.
Republicans are generally not enthusiastic about hiking taxes and fees and Democrats have suggested their support for such initiatives could be contingent on whether Snyder vetoes some or all of the bills that weaken incoming Democrats or go against the apparent will of voters.
Snyder said, "I try to work with people," but in general he assesses each bill on its own merits and "the bottom line is, is it good for the people of Michigan, or not?"
The tipping fee and water surcharge bills are important, but getting them passed is "a challenge," he said.
"I don't think it's assured that they're going to get through," Snyder said, and it may be a question of looking for other ways to fund those initiatives from existing revenues.
"I don't view this as go do a bunch of things (sign bills) I don't like so I can get something I like," Snyder said. "That's not how I operate."
Snyder said he would sign at least one lame-duck bill — legislation to create a tunnel authority to oversee the digging of a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac to replace and encase the Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline.
Snyder, a millionaire businessman who had never run for public office before, took office Jan. 1, 2011, and will complete his second two-year term — the most the state constitution allows on Dec. 31.
Snyder said Tuesday the state has created 560,000 private sector jobs during his time in office, when the unemployment rate plummeted from double digits to below 4 percent.
His record was marred by the Flint drinking water crisis, in which Flint residents were exposed to poisonous lead after the city, while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, switched its drinking water supply in 2014 from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The state Department of Environmental Quality has acknowledged a mistake in not adding corrosion control chemicals to the new water source, and lead leached into the water from pipes, joints and fixtures.
"The Flint water crisis was a terrible thing that happened," Snyder said Tuesday. "We put a lot of response to it, though."
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.