LANSING, MI (WHTC) – With the Fiscal 2016 budget work pretty much behind them, waiting on the Governor’s desk for his signature, state lawmakers are back in their districts for the weekend. When they return to Lansing on Tuesday, the House will take up Speaker Kevin Cotter’s 12-bill road funding package that looks to add over a billion dollars annually for highway repairs, mostly through existing state money. The Senate has begun weekly meetings on its own initiative that may emerge sometime next month.
Other matters are being addressed at the state Capitol. An eight-bill package that reforms Michigan’s asset forfeiture laws is now headed to the Senate. The House approved the measures that require, in part, police agencies to report more statistics about what is seized, along with setting a higher standard for forfeiture proceedings. Supporters say that these reforms would cut down on wrongful seizures of property from residents, but law enforcement groups counter that the current laws deter crime and fund needed crime-fighting improvements.
In addition, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jack Brandenberg is proposing eliminating the state’s four and a quarter percent income tax in exchange for raising Michigan’s sales tax to make up for lost revenue. The suburban Detroit Republican claims that this would help bring more people into the state, but he told MIRS News that he won’t craft a bill until the road funding issue is resolved. His earlier effort in January to roll back the state income tax rate to 3.9 percent is currently stalled in committee.
