Capitol Corner
Week of July 19, 2010
The Legislature returned to Lansing for one day this week but no progress was made on the looming General Fund budget dilemma. With the School Aid funding plan for fiscal year 2011 already in place, lawmakers and Governor Granholm are now focused on finding a solution to the General Fund deficit. Struggling income tax revenues combined with Congress' inability to pass an extension of the enhanced FMAP benefits to states has created a huge deficit in the state's General Fund. The exact size of the deficit is not yet determined and there is still a slight chance that Congress will be able to pass some version of the FMAP legislation to provide relief to the over 30 states that are facing significant budget challenges. MORE
Week of June 28, 2010
The Legislature surprised everyone this week by passing a School Aid budget for fiscal year 2011. The Governor had imposed a July 1st deadline on the Legislature to complete their work on the FY 2011 budgets and although the General Fund budgets are a long way from being completed, the Legislature deserves some credit for reaching agreement on the School Aid budget. The fundamental issue of whether the School Aid surplus should be used to offset the General Fund deficit has yet to be resolved as the bill passed by the Legislature reserves $236 million. MORE
The following are a series of state budget and conference updates from Michigan's Children:
Excerpt: The fiscal year 2011 budget for the Department of Human Services (DHS) has now been approved by the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate, and will now go to a joint House/Senate conference committee that will be charged with negotiating the differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill.
Excerpt: The House passed their recommendation for the School Aid and Department of Education budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY11), which begins on October 1st of this year and ends on September 30th of 2011. The Senate had passed their recommendations for those budgets in late March. Both chambers responded to the Governor’s budget proposal, which she released in February. The Governor’s budget addresses a projected deficit of $1.5 billion as a result of declining revenues and additional spending pressures.
Excerpt: On May 27, 2010, the House passed its version of the FY 2011 Department of Community Health (DCH) budget, which begins on October 1st of this year and ends September 30th of 2011. The Governor proposed her budget in February and the Senate passed its version of the DCH budget on March 24, 2010.
Excerpt: See who is part of this committee
Excerpt: See who is part of this committee
Excerpt: See who is part of this committee
Week of June 21, 2010
There was very little formal activity in Lansing this week as the budget negotiations are starting to heat up. The budget problem facing legislators and the Governor actually got much worse late Thursday evening as the United States Senate failed to pass the “Jobs Bill” which contained about $500 million of Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) money for Michigan. All of the fiscal year 2011 budget bills passed by both chambers of the Legislature as well as the Governor’s fiscal year 2011 budget proposal have anticipated the FMAP funding being available. MORE
Week of June 7, 2010
With the passage of the House Department of Human Services budget proposal late Thursday afternoon, the House has finally finished work on their proposals for the fiscal year 2011 budgets. The House DHS budget maintained funding for most early childhood programs at current year levels. A major problem with the proposal, however, is a $50.7 million case load reduction to the Child Care Development Fund. This number is over four times the amount that was reflected in both the Governor’s and Senate proposals. Any significant reductions to the program severely limit our ability to transform the child care system in our state. MORE
Week of May 24, 2010
The story in Lansing last week was definitely the incredible demonstration of support for early childhood investment generated by Star Power. The event was a huge success and clearly showed every legislator that their constituents believe investment in quality early childhood systems and programs should be a priority in this year’s budget negotiations. Thank you to all who participated. MORE
Week of May 10, 2010
The Legislature finally reached agreement on the public school employee retirement incentive package that the Governor had originally proposed back in February. The legislation passed both the House and Senate with predominantly Republican support early Friday morning after a marathon session. The non-partisan Senate Fiscal Agency estimates the savings to local school districts to be $680 million in the first year alone. The Michigan Education Association disputes this figure and argues that far fewer teachers than anticipated will choose to retire and the savings will be much less. MORE
Week of May 3, 2010
Early Out
The Legislature continues to demonstrate an inability to agree to reforms as work on the budget has slowed while negotiations continue on the Governor’s early-out retirement proposal for public school employees. The Governor proposed an early-out retirement incentive proposal for public school employees as part of her fiscal year 2011 budget proposal back in February. The Governor originally set an April 1st deadline for the Legislature to pass the measure, but that obviously did not happen... MORE
Week of March 22, 2010
Budget Updates
The Legislature limped into its two week Spring Break with both the House and Senate failing to accomplish what they had hoped to in terms of the fiscal year 2011 budget. The Senate did move all of the budget bills that started in the Senate this year, including the School Aid budget and the Department of Community Health budget. The fiscal year 2011 School Aid budget passed by the Senate this week maintained the same funding levels for early childhood programs... MORE
Week of March 1, 2010
Michigan Misses "Race to the Top" Mark
Legislative Activity was extremely light this week. House and Senate Appropriations subcommittee continued their hearings on Governor Granholm's proposed 2011 budget, but no action was taken on any of the bills. The first signs of trouble emerged in the Senate... More (PDF)
Week of February 22, 2010
Change in Budget Reception Observed, Focus on Reforms
The Governor presented her spending proposal for the 2011 fiscal year on February 11th, and with the exception of the (CCEP) Child Care Enhancement Program and a caseload adjustment to the Child Day Care Program the plan preserved funding for early childhood programs at current year levels. The Governor's plan however is predicated on the passage of a number of extremely controversial measures... More (PDF)
November 15, 2009
Lawmakers mull 'Race to Top' changes
Both the Senate and House Education Policy committees held hearings regarding reforms the Legislature will have to enact in order for Michigan to be competitive in the federal "Race to the Top" grant program. State Superintendent of Schools Mike Flanagan testified in the House committee that the Legislature will need to go above and beyond the minimum requirements laid out by the U.S. Department of Education in order to have any chance of being successful in the highly competitive process. Read more...
Read Past Michigan Legislative Updates in Capitol Corner Archives