FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
November 10, 2015
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org
Progress Michigan Statement on Gov. Snyder Signing Failed Roads Plan
Bills asks Michigan families to pay more for bad roads, asks nothing of wealthy
LANSING — Today, Governor Rick Snyder signed a package of roads bills aimed to give Republicans political cover in the November 2016 elections. The package of bills was passed under the cover of darkness last Tuesday by one-vote margins in both the State House and State Senate.
“Governor Rick Snyder has put our roads and bridges on the back burner for five years and today he will use his pen to surrender to legislative Republicans who are not concerned with actually fixing the roads,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “This bill package raises taxes without providing any benefits, asks nothing of the wealthiest Michiganders who have curried favor with Gov. Snyder and will not have any meaningful impact on the condition of our roads. With the signing of this package of bills, Rick Snyder is telling Michigan voters that the political interests of the Republican Party are more important to him than results-driven solutions.”
The plan will eventually raise $600 million in fuel tax and vehicle registration fee increases and requires $600 million in dangerous cuts to vital state services – while asking nothing from the wealthy and well-connected. This plan will not provide a real fix to Michigan’s roads and bridges.
“Rick Snyder and Republicans in the legislature have promised that this plan is a real roads fix,” Scott continued. “Voters will only need to look at the conditions of Michigan’s roads and bridges, schools, and communities next fall to pass judgment on whether or not their tax dollars were spent wisely by the Republican majority.”
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