“The Republican road funding plan is so bad that it might make anyone in Michigan long for the days of Proposal 1.
“The plan relies on an irresponsible $800 million in unspecified cuts from the already stressed General Fund — a plan that isn’t full implemented until fiscal year 2021. By then, we all might be driving on grounded pothole rubble, so perhaps we should just revert to dirt roads at that point.
“The $800 million in reckless budget cuts risk slashing the revenue sharing that local units of government use to fix local roads. This illogic tells Michigan residents that maybe the main road in their city will be fixed by 2021, but the state has impaired their city’s ability to fix the local road that takes them to the main road.
“These cuts could come also from community and mental health programs, higher education, corrections or money that supports local governments and communities. Michigan residents don’t want to trade a pothole in their road for a pothole in the state budget.
“And instead of a implementing responsible stream of revenue to fix roads, this plan relies on vehicle registration fee hikes and tax increases at the pump – all while giving generous income tax breaks that benefit Michigan’s wealthiest residents.
“For these reasons, I voted against this reckless plan.”