Republicans bash Whitmer's new road funding plan as short-term fix to long-term problem

LANSING – Republican lawmakers are still pushing their proposals to fix Michigan roads — transferring all of the 6% sales tax paid at the gas pump toward road improvements and refinancing the state’s teacher pension system.

Those plans were floated last year by Republicans, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer dismissed them as being harmful to schools and local governments, which receive revenues from the sales tax. She also didn’t want to risk hurting the Michigan Public Schools Employees Retirement System, which lawmakers have been working toward fully funding for the last eight years.

The alternative plan she proposed in her State of the State speech Wednesday was roundly criticized by GOP leaders Thursday.

In a more detailed response to Whitmer's speech, Republicans on Thursday bashed her plan to approve the sale of up to $3.5 billion in bonds to infuse some speedy cash into the state’s most highly traveled roads and bridges as a short-term infusion of resources to a long-term problem. And they roundly rejected again her 2019 proposal to impose a 45-cent-per-gallon tax hike with the money earmarked for road and bridge fixes.

[Gov. Whitmer wrote an op-ed in the Free Press the day after her State of the State address. Here's what she had to say.]

“We can find nearly $900 million of immediate and perpetual funding for roads, if we just do two things,” said Sen. Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, pointing to the sales tax issue and refinancing the MPSERS fund.

Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, wasn’t willing to say that the two sides are just too far apart to reach a consensus.

“I think we have disagreements. I think how we handle the disagreements is what's important,” he said. “We don’t agree with her other solution because bonding is not a solution.”

[Whitmer pitches Michigan road plan that leaves out GOP — and they're OK with that | Read Brian Dickerson's column.]

Both GOP leaders said they were disappointed with the tone and tenor of Whitmer’s speech, and upset that she said Republicans didn’t offer a real, long-term road relief plan during 2019.

“I was looking forward to a little bit more inspiration from her, but that fell a little bit short,” Shirkey said.

And Chatfield noted: ”At times, it’s tough to take this administration seriously.”

Whitmer said during her speech that since she couldn’t reach a deal with Republicans, she was going to go on her own with the bonding proposal, which was approved by the State Transportation Commission Thursday morning.

In a roundtable with reporters, Whitmer said she’s still waiting for the GOP to come up with something that she can work with.

More: 7 big messages from Gov. Whitmer's State of the State speech

“The ball is in the Legislature’s court in coming up with some long-term funding, but we’re going to get to work right now,” Whitmer said.

She said the bonding plan would make crucial fixes to some of the state’s most heavily traveled and economically important highways and bridges, but a comprehensive plan is needed to make sure local roads get fixed, too.

She said she’s eager to discuss any workable plans the Legislature might have, but “what I can do alone, I’m going to.”

It wasn’t all negative, though. Chatfield said he was happy that Whitmer focused on the bipartisan accomplishments of 2019, including reforms to auto insurance, criminal justice and mental health.

And Shirkey said her proposals to provide resources for programs to help pregnant women and young mothers is something “near and dear to my heart … I'm very anxious to roll up my sleeves up and get into that.”

But he also warned that even though the Legislature doesn’t have the ability or the authority to stop the road bonding proposal, it might affect other areas of the budget.

“When you bond, you have an obligation to service those bonds. And there's only one way to service those bonds and that's out of a cash flow,” Shirkey said. “There's only a finite amount of cash flow and at some point in time, you're going to have to sacrifice other programs.”

Whitmer is scheduled to present her proposed budget to the Legislature on Feb. 6.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.