Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks to reporters following the conclusion of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s seventh State of the State address in Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 26, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
As Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer promised to reach across the aisle in her seventh State of the State speech top Democrats and Republicans both found the governor’s 2025 agenda to be a mixed bag.
Funding for road repairs has been a top issue for Michigan Republicans, with Whitmer issuing her own proposal earlier this month. Though the governor called for a compromise between her roads proposal and the one issued by House Republicans, Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) and House Appropriations Committee Chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton Township) contested the governor’s argument that new funding sources would be needed.
Hall slammed the governor for her approach to economic development, arguing that his road funding plan would make better use of dollars used to entice companies into doing business within the state.
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“You didn’t hear her talking about her economic development deals. You heard her talking about fixing roads. Why is that? Because the House Republicans are leading and putting that issue on the map,” Hall said.
“What we’re going to do over the next few months is we’re going to show her how you can do this by getting rid of programs like that, getting rid of these giveaways to the select corporations that don’t work and putting that money into roads instead.”
While Republicans have touted their proposal as putting $3.145 billion toward road funding “without raising taxes,’ Whimer’s proposal aims to bring in additional revenue by closing a tax loophole for marijuana and asking big tech corporations to pay their share in taxes for doing business in the state.
“I don’t believe we need more revenue,” Bollin said.
“We have to stop playing this game of whack-a-mole, all right. We don’t tax here or collect a fee here and pay for something over there. And I’m going to work very, very hard to straighten the lines out,” Bollin said.
However, both Bollin and Hall cheered the governor’s support for their recently introduced rules aimed at bringing transparency to legislative spending initiatives, also known as earmarks, within the state budget.
“You saw Gov. Whitmer embracing part of the Hall ethics and accountability and transparency plan, which is to take these earmarks and disclose them. Let’s disclose the earmarks so we know where they’re going, what is the public benefit. And that’s a really positive thing,” Hall said.
Hall also applauded Whitmer’s call for permitting and licensing reform within the state, saying the regulatory system is too expensive and that the licensing system is often duplicative and unnecessary.
“So reforming regulations and reforming licensure will go a long ways in making it easier to have [a] job in Michigan and to create jobs and run a small business in Michigan,” Hall said.
While Whitmer called for cuts to existing government spending alongside new revenue sources, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) said the governor isn’t serious about cost reductions.
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“What she considers cuts aren’t real cuts,” Nesbitt said. “What we’re saying is that instead of hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare every year, you should put into roads. One hundred percent of what you pay at the pump, the $900 million surplus, that was enough to put into roads.”
But Nesbitt said that 100% of the state’s fuel tax going to road funding would be a deal breaker for Senate Republicans.
Nesbitt, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2026, said his State of the State address would have differed by “actually having specific layouts.”
But Nesbitt said that passing bipartisan legislative accomplishments is more politically advantageous than simply trying to serve as a check on the Democratic governor’s administration.
“We have to change the status quo, because if we do nothing, over the next 30 years Michigan’s going to lose a net of 700,000 people,” Nesbitt said. “That’s not acceptable as a … poorer, older state that’s not able to pay its bills.”
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Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) applauded Whitmer’s message of bipartisanship.
“We’ve got some tough problems in Michigan, and frankly, things like roads cannot be solved with just one party, and it should never become the political football that it has become. So I’m optimistic that the tone she struck will inspire everybody to come to the table.”
The Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-led House recently reached a solution to preserve the state’s tipped wage rate and cut-back on earned sick time requirements mandated by the Michigan Supreme Court, with Brinks noting there is nothing like a deadline to bring the Legislature together.
Despite that example, Brinks raised concerns that House Republicans hadn’t committed to finalizing the state budget by its deadline, the Legislature’s next hurdle.
While lawmakers are required to finalize the state budget by July 1, there is no penalty for failing to complete it on time. While House Republicans have said they would work to complete the budget before the next fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, Hall previously told reporters the budget process could extend beyond the end of June.
“I’m an optimist. I know that it’s possible to work together. I have a lot of experience doing that when I worked in the minority. So I’m hopeful that the Republicans will see the wisdom in coming together to work on the budget and to do it in a way that complies with the statute and is done by the end of June,” Brinks said.
While Whitmer’s call for bipartisan appeal was warmly received by multiple Democrats, it didn’t sit well with everyone.
Attorney General Dana Nessel said that Michigan is currently under attack by the Trump administration and said that it was a mistake for Whitmer “not to acknowledge the existential threat that we’re facing in our federal government right now.”
Nessel said that Trump isn’t like other Republican presidents who Democratic governors have had to work with in the past, calling him a “wannabe petty dictator who thinks and fashions himself to be a king,” pointing to Trump musing about serving a third term and the White House restricting press access.
“Donald Trump is a threat to the state of Michigan, and I think the more that we normalize the situation and pretend that there’s the ability to negotiate normally with somebody who’s a sociopathic liar and believes that they’re a dictator, I think it’s dangerous,” Nessel said. “And the sooner we all – not just Democrats, Republicans need to recognize it, acknowledge it and push back against it – you know, the better chance we have of saving our country and our democracy.”
While Nessel said she respects Whitmer’s attempts to bring economic investment to Michigan and create new jobs, it shouldn’t come at the cost of enabling the Trump administration in other areas.
“We get a new power plant or a battery plant, and that sounds great, but is it?” Nessel said. “I mean, is it great if we don’t have OSHA any more to protect those workers that are toiling away inside the plant, if we don’t have the NLRB and there’s no collective bargaining anymore?”
“We’re talking about potentially losing all of the rights that we’ve worked so hard to win over the course of the last century – that all being rolled back all at once,” Nessel said. “Seems to me that’s something we should be talking about.”
While Nessel has been floated as a potential candidate for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2026, she said that “it’s hard to focus on 2026 when we’re not pushing back as hard as we can in 2025.”