(RALEIGH) -- A state lawmaker claims budget cuts have hit the Highway Patrol so hard that it can no longer afford uniforms for its troopers. Representative Bill Faison of Orange County said the Highway Patrol needs just over $1 million to replace shoes and pants for its troopers.

Faison is proposing a seven-tenths of a cent sales tax increase. "There would be enough money, if we were to do this, not only to put all those people back to work but also put clothes on our Highway Patrol.  It's just a little seemly that a patrolman would have to walk up and write a ticket wearing birkenstock and ragg wool socks," said Faison.

He added that he has heard firsthand from troopers. "Last spring I had troopers in my district come to me and tell me they could no longer shoes and slacks that when they applied for them they were told that they would have to go buy their own and then I talked to some troopers outside of my district and confirmed the same thing with them."

Faison said, in the past, the Highway Patrol stocked up on extra shoes and uniforms, but there is no money for that in the current budget.