State Rep. Donni Steele, of Orion Township, released the following statement after a debate on bills in the House Appropriations Committee last week to increase various state fees – a follow-up move to help pay for the massive $82 billion state budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1^st:

“We were given these bills with just a few days to review, which doesn’t provide us adequate time to analyze and respond appropriately. I don’t understand why we don’t give a break to the people who actually provide goods and services to our state, and why we don’t maintain these decreases and sunset provisions. Why are we increasing the fees for all of these licenses, especially during such hard economic times? I hear from many residents in my district every day who are still hampered by rampant inflation and the high cost of essentials. These are the people who actually bring tax dollars into our state, and we’re penalizing them for doing such a good job by increasing their fees.

“We should do a more thorough examination of this plan, and ethical questions should be answered by our chair, before we implement an $82 billion budget. It seems like there was more than enough money in there without raising these fees. This entire process has not been clear nor ethical – especially with our committee chair in the position she’s in.”

House Bills 4988-4997, 5003-5004, and 5006-5007, which the Democrat-controlled House passed last week, raise certain fees and block other fees from rolling back to lower levels. Steele’s concerns over Appropriations Chair Angela Witwer’s quick passage of the fee increases comes after multiple potentially unethical conflicts of interest have been reported.