The following column was published by the Lapeer County Press on Saturday, February 8

I’m honored to recently have been appointed to serve on the House Appropriations Committee for the 2025-26 legislative term.

This will be my third term serving on the committee. Through this role, I will continue my commitment to ensuring voices in Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola counties are heard as the state uses taxpayer dollars in the budget process and we work to deliver residents more for their tax money.

The Governor’s office provided a budget recommendation this week and it once again laid the groundwork for a lot of taxpayer dollars being spent. It also created concerns about efficiency and best practices. The recommendation would establish more than 800 new full-time government positions, even as state government is already bloated and after voters were clear that less government in their lives — not more — was a priority. It also creates $600 million in new spending with no new funding for local roads, which means large tax hikes could be pitched down the line as a way to generate additional revenue for roads.

Our local infrastructure that we use every day to get groceries or take our kids to school continues to be neglected. We need real plans so our local and county road agencies have the resources they need to make repairs.

House Republicans have offered a way to commit over $3 billion per year to road funding without raising taxes. The plan would use money from the Corporate Income Tax, including expiring and inefficient earmarks set aside for business attraction incentives, and almost $1 billion through permanently dedicating all taxes paid at the pump to road funding. This plan would include zero new taxes or bonds that increase long-term debt for taxpayers. It also holds school funding harmless by dedicating $700 million in sales tax revenue to account for the decrease in what is normally allocated through gasoline sales tax.

In addition to roads, Michigan continues to lag behind other states on education. Our state’s literacy rates are in freefall. Six out of 10 fourth graders in Michigan can’t read at grade level, and the state fell 11 spots in national rankings in just two years. A previous state budget left out vital funding for dedicated school resource officers to help keep kids safe while they prepare for their futures and help some school districts afford these positions.

The governor’s education budget proposal comes closer to lining up with a House Republican education plan that was introduced in September that focused on helping students, parents, and teachers through a wide-ranging, cohesive policy strategy. The plan worked to make schools safer, offer new pathways to graduation and post-high school success, recruit and retain good teachers, help students learn to read proficiently, and provide other supports to deliver a high-quality education in Michigan. Unfortunately, there was no traction with these bills. The governor’s recommendation for the upcoming budget also cuts dual enrollment programs, which have offered students the opportunity to earn college credits while in high school since 1996.

I am hopeful we can find common ground over the next several months that delivers on education for families and kids across our communities. We must reverse the decline of Michigan’s schools.

The governor also continues to recycle other unpopular ideas that have gone nowhere. The Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources continues its efforts to raise hunting, fishing and boating fees, which will price people out of their hobbies, decrease recreational participation, and impact vital conservation efforts. Her push to hike fees for trash dumping would directly impact the cost that every resident pays for their garbage disposal. Even while having Democrats in majority in both chambers of the Legislature last term, her disposal fee increase plans didn’t end up getting signed into law. This proposal belongs in the garbage — and with no tax on it.

When all this new spending is proposed, the money has to come from somewhere. We have become addicted to federal government funding, including for roads, which leaves us vulnerable to shortfalls if there are changes federally. At the state level, the governor’s go-to strategy seems to be using taxpayers as an endless tap — raising taxes on hardworking families and small business owners when their own budgets are tight to grow government over and over without measurable success. We need more comprehensive solutions, not unsustainable spending. I look forward to leading this conversation on the House Appropriations Committee as we go forward with the budget process this year.