Bills for a metro Detroit regional transit authority, introduced in the state House and Senate in January, have not been brought to the floor for a vote.

There's an outside shot that could happen yet this summer during the Legislature's upcoming mini-sessions.

The bills were written as the enabling legislation for a proposed $500 million, 110-mile rapid-transit regional bus system that would operate much like a rail line, using specialized, train-like buses with dedicated lanes. The new bills also gives the RTA the power to borrow money and issues bonds and notes to finance projects.

However, lack of action on an RTA has kept thestreetcar project in Detroit from getting all of its funding capital funding.

In a letter last week to M1's leadership, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said the group won't get the $25 million transportation stimulus grant it applied for in April, but could get other federal money up to that amount.

LaHood, who came to Detroit to make the same points earlier in June, said his agency wants more detail about the project's short- and long-term capital and operational financing, and more evidence of "considerable progress" on an RTA before any federal money will be provided.

Lawmakers debating the RTA bills may not have understood that the streetcar plan also depended on the legislation.

"I'm not sure it was clear to people until Secretary LaHood came to town," said Rep. Jim Townsend, D-Royal Oak. "Everyone in both houses may not have known the streetcar system was tied to the RTA bills. Maybe that wasn't as clear to everyone three or four weeks ago."

Townsend, who introduced the House version of the bills, said his chamber's transportation committee will begin debating the bill once it has passed the Senate.

He understands Washington's concerns about M1's financing and the need for evidence that an RTA will happen -- knowing that 23 similar attempts have failed since the 1970s.

"The feds are pointing out that you cannot disentangle the creation of light rail on Woodward Avenue from how to effectively operate transit in Southeast Michigan," he said. "The feds are like any investors. They want to minimize risk."

The window for an RTA vote is very narrow until the fall: The Legislature is on its summer break but is back for one day in July and one or two in August before returning full time after Labor Day.

"It seems like you could move it in a day. That sort of thing happens," Townsend said.