From the News article.

"Ari Adler, a spokesman for House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, said a regional authority needs new legislation because existing laws would hamper creation of one.
"We haven't seen any formal proposals on how to make this regional authority work yet, although we've heard the Senate Republicans are working on something," he said. "This regional authority idea has been tried in southeast Michigan before, and it has crumbled every time.""

So much for the talk of a deal being imminent. Watch this die a slow death in Lansing as Republicans kill any proposals that would fund this. They just voted down federal funding for health exchanges because it's tied to the Obama administration. I'm sure they'll do the same here. It will be the Troy Transit Center tea party drama on a regional scale.