A compromise between Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Republicans in the State House and Senate has been reached regarding auto insurance, however, that does not seem to be the case regarding road funding. Port Huron State Representative Shane Hernandez, who is the house appropriations chairman, says a republican version of the budget won’t include the governor’s proposed gas tax hike. “This budget will have increased road funding, and it will not have a 45 cent gas tax increase,” Hernandez told WPHM. He adds that he would like to exhaust all existing funding before raising additional revenue. “There’s a lot of things we need to do before we even consider new funding,” Hernandez added. Meanwhile Governor Whitmer is holding steady on her calls for an increased gas tax, saying Michigan has a $2.5 billion dollar problem and that a 2015 road funding plan did not go far enough. “We can’t have a budget without a roads deal,” said Whitmer while speaking to reporters at the Mackinac Conference. The governor earlier this year proposed a 45 cent increase in the state’s gas tax to offset dollars taken out of the general fund for road repairs.
