LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) -Lawmakers are working on building a long-term plan to keep money flowing for transportation infrastructure. With 2 years left to keep her promise, Governor Whitmer is pushing to make a deal that will continue to fix the roads.
Whitmer rolled out her long-term road funding plan in February, and House Republicans were quick to act.
House Bills 4180- 4187 were introduced earlier this month, and have already seen one committee hearing. The $3.1 billion plan redirects existing dollars to the Michigan Transportation Fund. As it is, republicans want to use $2.2 billion from the corporate income tax. The chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Representative Pat Outman (R-Six Lakes) said that change will eliminate corporate earmarks and handouts.
Republicans hope to generate the other $900 million by eliminating the sales tax on fuel and replacing it with an equal increase in the gas tax. Outmain said drivers won’t feel anymore hits at the pump, but they want to make sure that tax revenue is directed toward the roads.
Their plan is $1.1 billion less than the governor’s proposal, which included raising corporate and marijuana taxes. With state revenues up, Outman said, it’s important to them to pass a plan that doesn’t take any more money from Michiganders.
“Revenues are up, state spending has really exploded, so we feel as House Republicans it’s really, really important to fund this plan without asking for more taxpayer dollars,” Outman said. “The last time we had a major road funding plan was back in 2015, and we were still trying to right the ship financially from the great recession and some of those other financial issues that the state of Michigan was experiencing at that time. So unfortunately, they had to raise taxes a little bit to fix that need. We are in a much different situation here in 2025.”
Outman said they plan to hold a few more hearings on the bills before passing them back to the House of Representatives for a vote.
