Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's recent appearance at the auto show may have been no accident. He'll be giving his third state of the State speech Wednesday evening, and transportation is expected to play a central role.
According to Michigan Radio, he'll propose a plan to help generate revenue to fix roads and bridges and renovate rail corridors that could involve changes to the state's gas tax.
"It would likely be a combination of features so you could be talking about fuel tax, but also registration fees because you do have concerns about the long term in terms of people going to electric vehicles and others who won’t be paying in," Snyder told the radio station.
The governor's address could also include hot topics like the state's revised emergency manager law, downtown Detroit development, Southeast Michigan's new regional transit authority, and the Detroit Future City strategic framework recently released by Mayor Dave Bing's Detroit Works Project.
Snyder's recent signing of right-to-work legislation will almost certainly be a part of the evenings event-- even if he hasn't prepared any comments. The United Auto Workers union has called on its membership and those in other unions to protest the speech.
Snyder's State of the Union Speech will take place Wednesday at 7pm in Lansing and will be aired on the governor's livestream channel.