(MPRN-Lansing) A conference committee will iron out differences between state House and Senate plans to boost road funding.
The state House approved a plan earlier this year that depends mostly on shifting existing money in the state budget to roads. The Senate approved a plan that also shifts existing revenues, but raises the state’s gas tax as well.
State House Speaker Kevin Cotter (R-Mt. Pleasant) says sending the bills to a conference committee is an important move toward finalizing a deal.
“Forming that conference committee, I think that’s a big step,” Cotter told reporters on Tuesday. “That’s something that I wasn’t willing to go to until we got closer than where we were, say, a month or two ago. So I think we’re seeing the bookends continue to move in.”
The House leader hinted that some Democrats are now willing to come on board.
“I am convinced now more than ever that there is a seriousness on both sides to solving the problem,”
he said. Once the bills are out of conference committee, lawmakers can only hold on up-or-down votes. That means they can’t make changes on the floor of the House or Senate.
There have been reports of a plan in the works that would boost road funding by $1.2 billion a year. Half of the money would come from raising taxes or fees. The other half would come from making cuts in other areas of the budget. Cotter says the goal is to hold a vote on a road funding package by the end of the week.
