County Republican Parties and Republican Congressional District organizations from across Michigan are lining up against Proposal 1 for a variety of reasons. The list of Republican organizations and elected officials announcing opposition to the Proposal continues to grow, with over 25 announced so far.  Saginaw County Republican Party Executive Committee Chair, Amy Carl, notes that the reasons include: general opposition to tax increases, the bulk of the increase in sales tax revenue in the first year is earmarked to pay off previous debts and will have no immediate affect on road funding, the sales taxes are not actually earmarked for road purposes and therefore can be spent for any other purposes at any time by simple legislative votes, and the proposal language hides its intents because it does not detail the actual changes to various state laws that will occur automatically if the proposal is passed.

Additionally, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill during 2014 that would have raised the same amount of money for roads as the current Proposal claims to, without raising taxes at all.  This is proof that the legislators can prioritize Michigan's existing funds.  The Michigan Senate failed to follow through on that bill, but many of those Senators have been term limited out of office and the new Senate should have a chance to come up with a plan for road funding.

At the Saginaw County Republican Party Executive Committee meeting of January 21, 2015, the Party passed a resolution urging the citizens of Saginaw County and the State of Michigan to register a NO vote on Proposal 15-1 at the May 5, 2015 election.  This was the first Republican organization to oppose Proposal 15-1.  The list of Republican organizations and elected officials announcing opposition to the Proposal to amend the Michigan Constitution at this writing are:

These results are not surprising, as polling done at the Michigan Republican Party Convention in February found that fewer than a quarter of the delegates who responded support Proposal 1.  Also, in a news conference on February 5th, Michigan House Speaker Kevin Cotter stated the Republican Party legislators' caucus would not endorse the sales tax hike.  This is likely because many newly elected Republican legislators have publicly opposed the measure.  At least a dozen legislators have already introduced bills to fund road improvements by alternate means should Proposal 1 fail.

KrisAnne Hall is an attorney, former prosecutor, and disabled veteran of the US Army.  She now travels the country and teaches the Constitution and the history that gave us our founding documents, laying out the foundations that explain how reliable and relevant our founding documents remain today. She presents the "genealogy" of the Constitution, covering the 700-year history and five foundational documents that are the roots of American Liberty.