The Michigan Legislature returns Tuesday to the state Capitol with a longshot possibility of adopting a road funding plan on its to-do list.
House Republicans are hoping to compel House Democrats to take up a GOP-backed plan to fund roads with taxes that currently go to other priorities. The House GOP wants to take the sales tax portion of state levies at the pump and move that toward road improvements.
The proposal would raise a lot of money for roads, which has been a hot-button issue even before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer coined “fix the damn roads” eight years ago as her campaign slogan.
But Robert Schneider, a budget expert with the non-partisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan, said the House GOP plan would, sooner or later come a cost to other spending priorities.
“Three quarters of that goes to Medicaid and human services, higher education, revenue sharing and corrections,” he told Michigan Public Radio, “so a big component of the cuts that will be needed would have to come out of those areas.”
But Schneider also said the state could be getting more from the money it is already spending on roads. A July 2024 report from his group ranked Michigan 30th in the nation in what it spends on roads but 40th in the quality of pavement.
“Other states that have similar revenue problems seem to do better in terms of getting results from their road work than we do, so it suggests there are some other things that we may be needing to reform in terms of the way that we deal with the roads,” he said.
Whitmer’s initial proposal to increase the fuel tax tanked in the Legislature during her first term. Lawmakers in 2020 approved a bonding proposal. But there is still no long-term plan for funding road projects.
In the final weeks of the session and about to lose their House majority, Democrats have introduced legislation proposing a variety of options, including raising the state gas tax to 49 cents per gallon, adding toll roads and increasing vehicle fees. All are considered longshots in the closing days of the session.
