LANSING, MI (WHTC) – State House members are back in their districts today as a deadlock in the Legislature over a road funding solution seems apparent.
Majority Republicans are split over a Senate-passed 1.4 billion-dollar plan due to increases in the gas tax, among other issues. Minority Democrats claim that they have been shut out of the process. There is no word on when the House will vote on the Senate plan, and there may not be enough common ground with the Lower Chamber’s 1.1 billion-dollar initiative to expect a compromise deal from a conference committee. The House meets again next Tuesday for a single session before recessing again until mid-August.
While the state House bickers over road funding, the state Senate, who is waiting for the Lower Chamber to decide what to do on that, looks at other issues. The Upper Chamber’s Energy and Technology Committee has begun a series of hearings into a two-bill package aimed at revising Michigan’s energy policy involving mandates on renewable energy and the integrated resource planning process. The state’s two major utilities claim that new federal regulations could lead to possible energy shortages, and are asking to reestablish a regulated monopoly to end energy choice options. A vote on the package is expected by the fall.
