Brad Paquette, R, represents the 78th District, which covers Berrien county. 

The governor just gave her State of the State address on Wednesday evening, and I would like to discuss a few of the upcoming issues we have on the docket to begin the 2020 legislative session.

To start, I must note that I found myself on my feet clapping when Gov. Whitmer put forth her wishes to work together and build bridges, especially after the lessons learned from the first half of this term. Stalemate over a 45-cent gas tax increase or nothing at all was difficult to contend with for road funding and the budget process. This new year will also bring similar challenges as the governor has already implemented her “plan B,” which was to take out a $3.5 billion loan to pay for the most traveled state roads, bypassing the legislature and leaving local roads out of the picture.

On Thursday of this week, the State Transportation Commission approved Gov. Whitmer’s $3.5 billion bonding program. Gov. Whitmer’s plan, titled “Rebuilding Michigan,” allocates $2.6 billion to the Metro Region (Wayne, Oakland and Macomb), $1.6 billion to the University Region (Ingham, Livingston, and Washtenaw), and $225 million to the Superior Region (the Upper Peninsula).  Neither of the counties I represent, Berrien or Cass, seem to be in the picture.

Each fiscal year, the legislature designates $200 million to debt from prior bonding projects implemented by both Republican and Democratic governors. Due to the previous bonds, our state is currently strapped with around $1.2 billion of debt. Over the last few years, our state has painstakingly tried to pay down this burden. I use the word burden because when Gov. Whitmer says more loans are her “plan B” option, I feel that the letter “B” stands for burden. A burden for our future generations and legislatures.

So, then what? I have said many times before that I am not here to attack others or further divides. I encourage (and need) anyone who is reading this to hold me accountable in that endeavor. So here is the approach I believe we should take after I reached out to the House Fiscal Agency, a service within the legislature, to find out how many unspent funds we will have from the 2020 budget. That amount is around $645 million dollars. My office put in a request to utilize the remaining funds to pay off some of the debt that will be accrued from Gov. Whitmer’s bonding plan.

As always, I welcome your suggestions and insight as this next year moves forward.