Additional Road Funding Headed to the Governor

Liz Gullett

Mar 02, 2018

This week the Senate passed a House bill providing an additional $175 million in road funding for the current fiscal year. The funds will come from money left over from a previous budget cycle and won’t require any budget cuts or revenue increases to cover the cost. Governor Snyder’s budget proposal for the 2019 Fiscal Year recommends moving up a scheduled $175 million increase in 2020 to 2019, on top of a $150 million increase already planned for 2019. “While the overall road funding need is targeted at over a billion dollars, it’s hard to get to that level without a tax increase. Since raising taxes seems to be unpopular, the legislature and governor are doing what they can by driving some excess state funds into infrastructure improvement. But it won’t be enough to solve the problem that so many drivers want fixed,” said Brendan Ringlever of MLC.

The legislation moved quickly through the House and was passed last week. When the bill arrived in the Senate, they also moved quickly to report the bill from committee and take a vote on the floor. On Thursday the bill received a unanimous vote of approval from all Senators present during session. Later that day, the House voted unanimously to approve of amendments the Senate made to the bill. The legislation will be sent to Governor Rick Snyder for final approval.

To see the breakdown of how much each local community is estimated to receive under the legislation, please click here to view the overview by the non-partisan Senate Fiscal Agency. The allocation estimates begin on page 4.

Michigan Legislative Consultants is a bipartisan lobbying firm based in Lansing, Michigan. Our team of lobbyists and procurement specialists provide a wide range of services for some of the most respected companies in America. For more on MLC, visit www.mlcmi.com or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.