House Bills 5125 and 5126, introduced by Representatives Jon Switalski (D-Warren) and Dale Zorn (R-Ida), respectively, passed the House Transportation Committee Wednesday – marking the passage of the first two pieces coming from Governor Rick Snyder’s recent special message on infrastructure. The two-bill package provides county boards of commissioners to assume the authorities and operations of county road commissions.
The chair of the House panel, Representative Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt), had a testimony- only hearing last week, drawing criticism from Democratic members of the Committee who wanted further testimony on the measures prior to voting Wednesday.
Despite the objections, and attempts at amendments by Representative Douglas Geiss (D-Taylor) to require approval of the county’s voters rather than the county board, the panel passed the as-introduced version of the package.
House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) and House Minority Leader Rick Hammel (D-Mount Morris Township