2001 House Bill 5467 ↩

Senate Roll Call 716: Passed

To create a new Detroit area regional transportation authority (DARTA) comprised of the Detroit area regional transportation authority and the suburban mobility authority for regional transportation (SMART), and including Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties. would allow Oakland and Macomb counties to withdraw from DARTA through a vote by the board of commissioners and people in 2005, and every four years thereafter. Smaller counties could get out with a vote of the county commission only. DARTA would later present to the legislature and the governor recommendations for legislation to establish a dedicated funding stream for itself, including taxes levied by local governments. Overall funding would come from new or existing federal, state, local, and regional tax dollars, and DARTA would be the recipient for most federal regional transit funds, with some exceptions. DARTA would be resoinsible for all public transportation facilities of the region. Its governing board would be composed of two representatives from Detroit, two each from Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties, and one each from the other counties. No action could be taken by the board unless at least one of the members from Detroit and one from Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne County each concur. DARTA would be prohibited from reducing the worker's compensation, unemployment compensation, pension, seniority, wages, sick leave, vacation, health and welfare insurance, or any other benefit of employees in a transit system that is taken over, even if the employee was transferred to another entity under the authority. DARTA could borrow and could collect assessments or taxes levied by a political subdivision within its area, pursuant to a contract with that unit, but would not have direct taxing power itself. DARTA would could acquire facilities, assets, and rights of existing private or public transportation systems, and if negotiations for such did not reach a conclusion, could impose binding arbitration or condemnation. See also House Bills 5468 and 5523.