Michigan Lawmakers Approve $54.5 Billion Budget

By DAVID EGGERT
Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Lawmakers approved a $54.5 billion state budget Wednesday, passing modest funding increases for roads and education along with new initiatives designed to boost early literacy and training for jobs in the trades.

The plan spends nearly $1.7 billion, or 3 percent, more than in the current fiscal year, according to the state budget office, in part due to enrollment in Michigan's federally funded Medicaid expansion program for lower-income adults without health insurance. The budget will take effect in October once it is signed by Gov. Rick Snyder around the middle of this month.

The Republican-led Legislature voted 70-39 and 22-16 for the general spending bill. The education spending measure won approval on 99-10 and 24-14 votes.

Major items in the budget include:

- $400 million in general funds for transportation, $260 million more than required to qualify for federal matching dollars as fuel taxes do not generate enough anymore. It remains far short of the minimum $1.2 billion Snyder and others say is needed to get deteriorating roads and bridges up to par. Legislative talks will continue over the summer after voters' recent defeat of a lawmaker-proposed ballot measure that would have raised the sales tax to trigger additional transportation funds.

- A $70 to $140 increase in traditional per-pupil funding for K-12 schools, nearly 0.9 percent more for the highest-funded districts and roughly a 2 percent bump for the lowest-funded ones. Every district is guaranteed a minimum $25 per-student bump after losing performance- and "best practices"-based funding. The school budget also includes a significant boost in funding for "at-risk" students.

- About $31 million for Snyder's early literacy initiative that includes additional kindergarten instruction, reading coaches and new K-2 assessments.

- About 1.5 percent more for operations at 15 universities and 28 community colleges. Universities must keep tuition hikes to no more than 3.2 percent to qualify for their aid.

- Closure of the W.J. Maxey Boys Training School near Whitmore Lake north of Ann Arbor. About 50 juveniles are housed there.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Hildenbrand, a Lowell Republican, said the extra money for road construction "speaks pretty highly about the commitment ... to really put a focus and an emphasis on investing in our infrastructure across Michigan."

Majority Republicans also highlighted nearly $1 billion in spending to address liabilities in the public school employees' retirement system, a $95 million deposit into the state's savings account, additional spending on the Pure Michigan tourism campaign and the K-12 plan.

"Between the at-risk and the additional funds in the third-grade reading initiative, I think you're going to see reading scores skyrocket in this state," said Rep. Tim Kelly, a Saginaw Township Republican.

Democrats criticized closing the Maxey facility and spending $300,000 to give drug tests to welfare recipients suspected of substance abuse. They noted that 226 human services positions are being eliminated.

"Closing Maxey increases the likelihood that these young men will end up being placed in out-of-state facilities, on the streets or in adult prisons," said Sen. Vincent Gregory, a Southfield Democrat. "This means that instead of helping rehabilitate and redeem these troubled young men, this budget is putting their safety in danger and jeopardizing our communities."

House Democrats also faulted the GOP for not blocking senators' planned 2017 move to an office building a block away. The decision to move - made late last year - led to the issuance of $70 million in bonds to buy the new offices.

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