After years of gridlock, state lawmakers have sent Governor Rick Snyder legislation to boost road funding.
The legislation would increase the state’s gas tax by seven cents a gallon and boost vehicle registration fees by twenty percent starting in 2017. It raises taxes by 600 million dollars starting in 2017. It also eventually shifts 600 million dollars from other areas of the state budget.
The Republican plan passed by the narrowest of margins in the Senate and the House after a marathon session that went late into the night.
Governor Rick Snyder says he expects to sign the bills quickly.
Boosting road funding by more than a billion dollars a year has been one of Snyder’s top policy goals for years.
Democrats criticized the plan for not specifying areas in the budget that will lose funding.
