House Speaker-elect Rep. Matt Hall, R-Richland, pitched a $2.8 billion plan Friday to fix the roads and bridges.

The lawmaker wants to act on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2018 campaign promise by shifting existing tax dollars and expiring corporate handouts to roads.

“Everyone says they want to fix the roads when the cameras are on, but nobody has taken any real steps to do it these past two years,” Hall said in a news release. “The people are sick and tired of inaction and empty words.”

Since 2023, Michigan lawmakers have approved $4.6 billion in corporate welfare to select companies, Michigan Capitol Confidential has reported.

Michigan’s 2025 budget is a record $83 billion, but the roads here, especially county and local roads, are still falling apart.

Hall’s plan would allocate $1.2 billion of corporate income tax revenue to infrastructure, add $600 million in additional funding in 2026, and direct state gas revenue entirely to road funding.

The $600 million increase would come from three current earmarks: $500 million for the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund that pays for corporate incentives, $50 million for the Revitalization and Placemaking Fund, and $50 million for the Housing and Community Development Fund.

The SOAR and RAP earmarks are set to expire after the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Hall also wants to replace the 6% sales tax on motor fuel with a revenue-neutral increase in the motor fuel tax, which would exclusively fund infrastructure. This would yield about $945 million in additional resources, Hall said.

In 2020, Whitmer’s administration borrowed $3.5 billion in bonds to fix state highways, but that money didn’t repair county and city roads.

County road agencies maintain roughly 75% of Michigan’s road miles, which means 90,500 miles of roads and 5,900 bridges, according to the County Road Association of Michigan.

The governor’s office has not responded to a request for comment.

The focus on local road funding is welcome, Ed Noyola, chief deputy and legislative director of the county road association, told CapCon in a phone interview.

“This is a step toward a long-term, sustainable revenue source that we look forward to and we would love to participate in,” Noyola said.

Spending existing revenue on roads instead of corporate welfare would be a win for taxpayers, said Michael LaFaive, senior director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

“Corporate handout programs are demonstrably ineffective and expensive and come with huge opportunity costs,” LaFaive wrote in an email. “The billions wasted underwriting corporate bottom lines would be better spent filling potholes and fixing bridges.”

LaFaive cited research from the Kalamazoo-based W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research that reports large subsidies for big corporations have ”starkly negative employment impacts.”

A Michigan school district has denied a mother’s request to observe the classroom time of her dyslexic child, a move she says violates state law.

Troy Public School district officials informed Michele Maleszyk in October that they would not grant her request to observe her second grader’s classroom.

Maleszyk’s child is dyslexic, she told Michigan Capitol Confidential, and she wanted to understand better classroom reading interventions.

The student’s teacher, Karen Bush, denied the request, according to an Oct. 21 email Maleszyk provided to CapCon. “At this time, we will not be scheduling a time for you to come in to observe in the classroom as we accommodated this last year on two different occasions,” Bush said.

Maleszyk, a former teacher, appealed to Troy School District Superintendent Rich Machesky but was again denied. The teacher's responses have been open and transparent, the superintendent wrote in a Nov. 1 email to Maleszyk.

“That said, both Ms. Griffor and I support Ms. Bush’s response and suggest you take her up on her offer to meet directly with you and continue to review your concerns,” Machesky wrote. Kristine Griffor is the assistant superintendent for elementary instruction.

Maleszyk questioned the legality of the district’s decision. Parents can observe their kids’ instructional time, according to Act 451 of the Revised School Code. The law reads in part:

“Be present, to a reasonable degree, and at reasonable times and subject to reasonable restrictions, controls, and limits, to observe instructional activity in a class or course in which the pupil is enrolled and present. As used in this subdivision, ‘instructional activity’ does not include testing.”

Maleszyk told CapCon she was shocked when the district denied her request.

“It’s incredibly disappointing that the district is obstructing meaningful parental participation, particularly when it involves the education of a child with a learning disability."

Maleszyk originally attempted to resolve the problem with her student’s challenges through email. She questioned whether the interventions provided were working for her daughter. She also expressed concerns about the effectiveness of the Leveled Literacy Intervention curriculum used in the classroom to support literacy.

After several email exchanges, Maleszyk wanted to observe the interventions for her child.

The school district has a process to allow parents to observe in the classroom, Superintendent Machesky told CapCon in an email.

“The individual you reference has in fact observed in a classroom – although not with the current teacher,” Machesky wrote. “The building principal is in constant contact with this parent as is her daughter’s teacher. We remain open to providing an opportunity for review of classroom instruction so long as all appropriate guidelines are followed.”