Advancing plans provide boost to state’s secondary road patrol program
State Rep. Matt Hall is fighting for local law enforcement to have the resources they need to keep people throughout Michigan safe, no matter where they live.
Hall recently voted to advance a plan which will provide a permanent and stable funding mechanism for the state’s secondary road patrol program. The program helps sheriffs’ departments patrol roads outside of cities and villages and has historically been funded by assessments added on to traffic tickets.
The funding has declined over the last 20 years and put the program in jeopardy, and the plan shores up this decline by dedicating $15 million of the liquor excise taxes collected by the state each year to the road patrol program.
“With a decline in funding, law enforcement has fewer resources to commit officers and patrols to areas outside of main cities – and people in those areas are less safe as a result,” said Hall, of Comstock Township. “This is a critical investment in public safety and our communities, and it’s being done without a tax increase.”
Hall noted the additional $10 assessment fee for a traffic ticket will be removed if the proposals become law, while the legislation also disincentivizes departments from writing more tickets to raise revenue for the program.
Over the past several years, revenue collected from the state’s 4-percent excise tax on spirits has increased from $54.7 million during the 2016-17 fiscal year to $80.5 million in 2020-21.
House Bills 5772-73, 5732 and 5569 now move to the Senate for consideration.
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