Friday, February 19, 2011
As expected, Governor Snyder’s proposal is far-reaching and contains controversial elements. The plan combines wide-ranging spending cuts with major tax policy shifts in an effort to structurally balance Michigan’s budget and provide a $1.8 billion overall tax cut to Michigan businesses. Governor Snyder, Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley and Budget Director John Nixon joined together in making the presentation to the legislative committees and they made it clear that they view the entire plan as a complete package and they will oppose any efforts from the Legislature to “pick and choose” pieces of the plan. From an early childhood perspective, the proposal was fairly positive. MORE

Friday, December 17, 2010
The Legislature finally wrapped up the “lame-duck” session this week as both the House and Senate returned on Wednesday to complete some procedural steps necessary for the final bills to be advanced to Governor Granholm for her signature. As expected, overall legislative activity was light during the “lame-duck” session. None of the major controversial issues that remain outstanding were addressed as outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop made it clear that he would prefer to allow the Snyder Administration to address the issues with the new Legislature when they all take office in January. MORE

Friday, Oct. 1, 2010
The Legislature completed work on the fiscal year 2011 General Fund budgets this week, one day before the October 1st deadline. After numerous failed attempts, the House of Representatives was finally able to pass the state employee retirement reforms last week. That action allowed the remaining General Fund budgets to be completed this week. The budget agreement was cobbled together with a combination of spending cuts, policy reforms, and one-time federal money. The Legislature can be commended for completing the budget before the deadline and therefore averting another government shutdown, but they did very little to address the serious structural deficit that our state faces and the problems looming ahead for the next administration and Legislature are massive. The incoming administration and Legislature will immediately inherit a budget deficit of around $1.6 billion and a tax structure that is undeniably antiquated. MORE

September 27, 2010
The Legislature completed work on the fiscal year 2011 General Fund budgets this week, one day before the October 1st deadline. After numerous failed attempts, the House of Representatives was finally able to pass the state employee retirement reforms last week. That action allowed the remaining General Fund budgets to be completed this week. The budget agreement was cobbled together with a combination of spending cuts, policy reforms, and one-time federal money. The Legislature can be commended for completing the budget before the deadline and therefore averting another government shutdown, but they did very little to address the serious structural deficit that our state faces and the problems looming ahead for the next administration and Legislature are massive. MORE

September 5, 2010
An agreement has been reached between the Governor, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop and House Speaker Andy Dillon to complete the fiscal year 2011 General Fund budgets. As a precursor to the agreement, $208 million was transferred out of the School Aid Fund to address a shortfall in the current (fiscal year 2010) General Fund budget. The agreement to resolve the deficit in the FY 2011 General Fund budgets combines a number of one-time and small, targeted revenue increases, reforms, and further reductions in spending. MORE

August 16, 2010
The Legislature was back in session this week, but there was very little formal activity in Lansing as the news was dominated by Governor Granholm presenting her revised budget proposal. With the United States Congress passing a reduced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) measure earlier this month, the combined fiscal year 2010-2011 General Fund deficit for Michigan is now pegged at $786 million, ($302 million for FY 2010 and $484 million for FY 2011.) The Governor proposes using $208 million of the surplus remaining in the School Aid Fund plus some one-time revenue shifts to address the current year problem. Governor Granholm also proposes an additional $222 million in cuts combined with more one-time revenue generators to balance the FY 2011 General Fund budgets. The proposal to use “surplus” School Aid funds to fund Community Colleges is still adamantly opposed by all public school advocate groups, but appears to be gaining support in the Legislature. MORE

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

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:

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

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

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

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

May 3, 2010
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

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

March 1, 2010
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)

February 22, 2010
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
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