LaFave was recently appointed to the bipartisan House Select Committee on Reducing Car Insurance Rates to pursue a solution.

“Governor Whitmer designated just one sentence of her address to talk about the need for reducing car insurance rates for Michigan drivers,” LaFave said. “While she spent 20 minutes talking about the $562 the average driver faces when repairing their damaged vehicles from the pesky potholes scattered across our roadways, she seemed to have forgotten about how much Michigan drivers pay just to drive on our roads insured.”

Michigan is projected to spend more than $4 billion on roads and bridges overall in this budget year, the most in state history, LaFave said.

State Rep. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, said he looks forward to hearing more about Whitmer’s proposals.

State Rep. Greg Markkanen, R-Hancock, right, attended Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s State of the State address and was joined by Daniel Jamison of Houghton, the CEO of MTEC SmartZone. Markkanen represents Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Iron, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties, as well as Powell and Ishpeming townships in Marquette County.

“My hope is that the executive and legislative branches can work together, not to grow government but to have government serve our citizens and truly be responsive to their needs,” he said.

“I have repeatedly heard from the people of the Upper Peninsula that we need to work on state regulations to ensure they are common sense and reasonable, not burdensome,” McBroom continued. “We need to make a difference for people, by lowering auto insurance rates, and ensuring that they remain healthy and happy in the state they love, and that their kids can do the same.We need to ensure we are using our state’s competitive assets, not just preserving our beautiful state for tourists only to the point of no one being able to live and work here.”

Newly elected state Rep. Greg Markkanen, R-Hancock, said he will call upon his experience and work ethic as a veteran and former teacher in serving his constituents. Markkenen has been appointed a member of the Education; Energy; and Military, Veterans and Homeland Security committees. He will also serve as the majority vice chairman on Insurance.

State Rep. Sara Cambensy, D-Marquette, said it’s clear Whitmer wants to make Michigan a state that once again invests in people.

“By investing in education, we can focus on attracting business by talent rather than corporate tax giveaways,” she said. “By being responsible with how we use our natural resources, we can protect our water and environment. And it’s clear that we will fix our roads and infrastructure and lower car insurance rates by working together and making the people’s priorities our top priorities.”