LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — As we enter the last days of the legislative session, House Democrats will soon lose their majority at the end of the year and are pushing several new options to fund road repair in Michigan.
Democratic Reps. Jasper Martus and Alabas Farhat are sponsors of bills introduced on Dec. 5.
The bills propose hiking annual registration fees by $100 per vehicle, adding tolls to some of the state's busiest freeway and a 19 cent fuel tax hike.
You can read House Bill No. 6257 below:
Michigan House Bill 6257 by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit
7 News Detroit reached out the the representatives to learn more, but they declined to interview.
The bills are being introduced as Republicans are also pushing forward a set of proposals including increasing fuel taxes to shift taxes paid at the pump to road repairs, exempting fuel purchases from the state sales tax and shifting state corporate income tax money to road funding.
"We actually do have some Democratic support of our proposal," Republican Rep. Joseph Aragona told 7 News Detroit. "I mean, if you're going to get taxed on roads or on your gas to drive in your car to travel on roads, shouldn't those tax dollars go to repairing roads."
According to michigan.gov's Pavement Conditions tracker, Michigan roads have improved after the last five years or so.
The tracker shows that from 2017-2018 to 2022-2023, Michigan lane miles that are in good condition have gone up by about 5%, while the lane miles that are in poor condition have gone down by about 8%.
When asked what he thinks of Michigan roads, Southfield driver Izier Barnes said: "We got some dinosaur fossils."
Even with the improvements, Michigan drivers we spoke with said that the state still has a lot of ground to cover until we can say that our roads are in good shape.
When asked her thoughts on the proposals, Detroit driver Lareisha B said she was only open to "the taxes on pay at the pump."
You can read House Bill No. 6256 below:
Michigan House Bill 6256 by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit
Overall, no one was an overwhelming fan of any proposal that requires more money from Michigan drivers, but they acknowledged that if we want better roads, the funds have to come from somewhere.
"We still got dinosaur fossils, T-Rex legs for potholes," Barnes said in regards to Michigan roads.
