Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
Governor Gretchen Whitmer has vetoed a bill that could have helped small county road commissions afford new facilities.
The legislation would have allowed road commissions to finance property purchases over a 30-year term. They are currently limited to 15-year financing. Most other governmental authorities can finance for as much as 30 years.
The bill was sponsored by State Representative Greg Markkanen of Hancock, and was designed to help Keweenaw County afford a new road commission maintenance garage.
On a recent Copper Country Today, Markkanen admitted that the widespread, bipartisan support the bill originally enjoyed had been undermined by some downstate local political issues…
And that’s the reason Whitmer gave for vetoing the bill yesterday – saying that it discriminated against Michigan’s counties.
In a release yesterday, Markkanen promised to continue to pursue a solution to help Keweenaw County.
Whitmer also vetoed legislation that would have lifted bans currently in place on baiting deer and elk.
The bans have been enacted in certain regions by the Natural Resources Commission. The goal is to slow down the spread of chronic wasting disease by eliminating large, intimate gatherings of deer in which it could be shared.
Pro-hunting legislators say the ban won’t help. On a recent Copper Country Today, DNR Wildlife Biologist John DePue disagreed…
The only area in the U.P. affected by the ban is in Menominee and Dickinson Counties, where a CWD-infected deer was reported in the fall of 2018.
