Senate Democrats hold off on specific road funding plan, cite need for bipartisan agreement
Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, left, and state Sen. Kevin Hertel, D-St. Clair Shores, right, discuss Senate Democrats' priorities during a panel in the lobby of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the first night of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 27, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
MACKINAC ISLAND – Senate Democrats avoided detailing a specific road funding plan during the first day of the Mackinac Policy Conference.
Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said her caucus is 'trying to put the pieces together that will create a plan that could actually get through the Legislature.'
'It's not enough just to have a plan, and it's not enough to even pass things through one chamber – if it's not bipartisan and bicameral, it will not be successful,' Brinks said.
While Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, (R-Porter Township), and Sen. Jim Runestad, (R-White Lake), were scheduled to appear in a similar panel later in the day, Sen. Roger Victory, (R-Hudsonville), represented the Senate Republicans.
He proposed a reward system where the state would match local governments' funding for local road repairs.
'Sometimes with state funding, we act like a fire department. We're always out there trying to put fires out,' Victory said. 'I think we need to get ahead of the fires and just do fire prevention.'
The GOP-led Michigan House passed a $3.1 billion road funding plan in March, which Democrats criticized as potentially endangering vital services, as well as the state's School Aid Fund.
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