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The big news this week is the budget deal at the state Capitol and that Rick got his weekend back.
We were expecting he’d be part of the throng waiting around on the House or Senate floors or the halls of the Capitol, munching high-carb snacks, searching for and waiting on inklings of developments, and constantly checking how many more minutes until Shutdown City.
So thanks for that, Lansing.
Who’s not getting a weekend? All the people now working quadruple overtime at the State Budget Office, the House and Senate fiscal agencies, and legislative staffers who have to put this thing together before the Legislature returns next week.
To, as Rick so often does, paraphrase The Princess Bride, just because there’s a budget doesn’t mean this is an “all the way” budget deal. It’s more of a framework, really. (So, now he’s paraphrasing Pirates of the Caribbean.)
The deal announced Thursday evening between Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) and House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) is very short on details. There is still a lot to get done and a lot that could go wrong.
It will be up to Whitmer Budget Director Jen Flood, House Appropriations Committee Chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton) and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) to come up with “spending targets.” That is, broadly speaking, how much money will be set aside for various budget areas – education, law enforcement, health and human services, environmental protection, etc. etc. etc.
And, of course, roads, which will get an infusion of funds. That would allow Whitmer to take a “fix the damn roads” victory lap during her final year in office. The money would come from redirected spending, scaling back corporate subsidies and a wholesale tax on marijuana. (We got it! “Pot for potholes.”) And, we kid you not, the amount that the tax is estimated to bring in: $420 million. IYKYK.
Capitol staffers are already working to draft the bills that will put numbers and official language to the concepts and understandings in the budget agreement. The Legislature adopted “vehicle bills” before leaving late Thursday, which means numbers and language can be dropped into those bills and voted on quickly.
It may seem bureaucratic, but that was essential because every bill needs to sit in the House and the Senate for five days before it can be adopted. Next week would be too late. That’s because, as IJP newsletter readers certainly know by now, Michigan’s new fiscal year begins Wednesday. Without a finalized budget, the state could see a partial government shutdown.
This is an appropriate time to remind ourselves just how remarkably behind schedule all this is. Normally we’d see appropriations hearings that would allow experts, interest groups and members of the public to flyspeck and testify on these draft budgets.
It’s too late for that. This will not be a transparent process that allows plenty of time for public debate and analysis.
We should also mention K-12 schools, higher education institutions and many local governments have fiscal years that began on July 1. They’ve gone since then without much of an idea of what they have to spend, despite a state law that says this budget was supposed to be signed, sealed and delivered three months ago.
So, the 103rd Michigan Legislature is a scofflaw.
Speaker Hall did not mention this in his 26-minute press conference Thursday evening when he ballyhooed his prowess as a negotiator on a three-months-too-late budget.
Governor Whitmer and Leader Brinks, other than emailed statements and a video from the former, stayed out of the limelight.
At this moment, they likely figured the less said the better.
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Have questions about Michigan politics? Or, just want to let us know what you want more of (less of?) in the newsletter? We always want to hear from you! Shoot us an email at politics@michiganpublic.org!
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Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan lawmakers have one week to come up with a budget deal. If they don’t there will be partial state government shutdown. What do voters think about the stalemate in Lansing? And who will they blame if there’s a shutdown? Pollster Richard Czuba, founder of Glengariff Group, has answers.
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What we’re talking about at the dinner table
Dual shutdown showdowns: Lansing’s Capitol is sometimes called the “skinny dome” compared to Washington D.C.’s “big dome.” The juxtaposition between Lansing seemingly averting a shutdown while Congress appears to be barrelling towards one was not lost on the players at the Michigan Capitol anxious to avoid an embarrassing parallel narrative. Of the dueling shutdowns, Al Pscholka, who served as budget director under Republican Governor Rick Snyder, told The Detroit News’ Melissa Nann Burke, “I don’t think it’s ever happened before. I don’t think shutdowns have ever overlapped like this. This is something unprecedented.”
MI voter rolls: The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the Michigan Secretary of State for refusing to share information from its registered voter list. The lawsuit says the list provided by the state of already public information is insufficient. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Michigan governor in 2026) appears to be relishing the opportunity to take on the Trump administration. “Only state and local election officials – not the president, the DOJ, or any other federal agency – have the right to people’s private voter information,” Benson said in a statement from her office. “The people of Michigan have entrusted this department with their personal data, and I will stand up to this illegal and unconstitutional power grab.”
Stevens takes on RFK Jr.: Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens (who is running in the crowded Democratic primary for her party’s U.S. Senate nomination) announced this week she’s introducing articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In a statement, Stevens says, “RFK Jr. is making our country less safe and making healthcare less affordable and accessible for Michiganders. His contempt for science, the constant spreading of conspiracy theories, and his complete disregard for the thousands of research hours spent by America's top doctors and experts is unprecedented, reckless, and dangerous.” But, as The Detroit Free Press’ Todd Spangler notes, “any effort to impeach Kennedy is unlikely to succeed: The U.S. House and its committees are run by a Republican majority supportive of Trump and his administration's goals, and in order to impeach him the House would have to vote in favor of charges against him. Once impeached, it would fall to the Senate — also run by a Republican majority — to try him on those charges with a two-thirds vote needed to remove him from office.”
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
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