UPDATE: LANSING - Five bills and a resolution were recently introduced in the senate. These bills serve as the the starting point for discussions on transportation funding.

"It' about 85% of the funding goes to highway programs broadly understood but a little over 10% of the budget is for public transportation programs," said William E. Hamilton, Senior fiscal analyst in the Michigan House of Representatives.

These bills are aimed to collectively increase vehicle registration, change the gas tax to a percentage tax, repeal the gas tax, and increase the state sales tax by two cents, dedicating part of this tax to state recreation improvement accounts and the other part to meet state transportation needs. The tax will not be added on as an additional tax, but included in other taxes.

"Every time you fuel up, your contributing to that tax source," Hamilton said.

The five transportation bills are estimated to cost approximately $1.4 billion a year.

ORIGINAL STORY: LANSING - Gas tax to pay for five proposed transportation bills.