(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/10/23) Senate Republicans offered 96 failed amendments and attempted substitutes during the Senate's second day of approving $52.9 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 spending proposals Wednesday.
"Obviously, what you saw today was dozens and dozens and dozens of Republican amendments, but the thing that makes me feel a little bit frustrated is how we're missing the budgets that we presented . . . all of the work that has been put forward to make sure that these budgets were developed by real Michiganders, and also in concert with our Republican colleagues," said Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) after a nearly eight-hour-long session.
In two Senate budgets -- SB 178 for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and
SB 189 for General Government -- Republicans presented amendments that questioned whether Democratic legislators cared more about conserving money for large-scale corporate incentives in the state's Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund than prioritizing local communities.
Sen. Joseph Bellino JR. (R-Monroe) wanted to take $500 million from the SOAR Fund and put $178.9 million into city and village road funding and $321 million into county roads.
For SB 189, Sen. Jonathan Lindsey (R-Brooklyn) called for removing $500 million from "the overstuffed SOAR treasure chest" and placing it into a fund for inflation and tax relief.
"If we're going to put that amount of effort into spending Michigan taxpayer dollars on corporate handouts, maybe we should set some aside to specifically tackle the needs of Michiganders as their pocketbooks are hurting," said Lindsey. "Michigan families, seniors and hardworking taxpayers continue to need tax relief, not more and more massive corporate handouts."
Lindsey described his amendment, which failed by a party-line vote of 18-20 (as many of the amendments did), as an opportunity for legislators to prioritize Gov. Gretchen WHITMER's "corporate welfare slush fund."
Sen. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell), whose district contains Marshall, the 6,822-resident community where Ford Motor Company's SOAR Fund-backed $3.5 billion battery factory for electric vehicles (EVs) will be developed, suggested a General Government amendment mandating SOAR Fund projects be subjected to an independent review.
"In Marshall alone, the state is approving at least $1.7 billion in tax incentives – a cost to taxpayers of more than $680,000 per job at the proposed factory," Albert said. "The least we can do is make sure SOAR projects are independently monitored so we can have quality information when we make future decisions."
The legislative appropriations committees last deployed $210 million to be deployed from the SOAR Fund in the form of a performance-based Critical Industry Program (CIP) grant for Ford's next-generation battery park on April 12.
Overall, today, the Senate approved:
- A more than $562.7 million budget for Michigan's community colleges (SB 201)
- A more than $887.4 million budget for the Michigan State Police (MSP, SB 198)
- $530.5 million budget for the Michigan Department of Education (MDE, SB 186)
- $6.8 billion MDOT budget (SB 178)
- $240 million budget for military and veterans affairs spending in the state (SB 197)
- $5 billion general government spending budget (SB 189)
- $2.3 billion budget for Michigan's public universities (SB 200)
- A more than $35.4 billion budget for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS, SB 190)
- A more than $1.08 billion budget for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE, SB 199)
Each bill was passed by a party-line vote with no Republican support.
Democrats in the chamber said that votes on their proposed FY '24 budgets for PreK-12 education (SB 173) and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO, SB 194), which specifically oversees the SOAR Fund, were delayed due to Republicans' back-to-back amendments.
On top of addressing Michigan's corporate incentive fund, GOP senators made public safety a priority in their amendments.
For example, in the transportation budget proposal, Sen. Mark HUIZENGA (R-Walker) called for equipping MDOT with $3 million to purchase and install wrong-way determinate systems on highway off-ramps, aiming to save lives through a safety infrastructure investment.
Furthermore, Albert proposed increasing statutory revenue sharing for local municipalities by 20%. With half of the suggested appropriation designed to be an ongoing expenditure and the other half to be backed by one-time funding, Albert described how 50% of the ongoing boost would be exclusively dedicated to public safety initiatives.
"It could go to recruitment, retention, equipment, training, day-to-day operations and more," Albert said, describing his amendment. "Local municipalities cannot use this revenue sharing increase to replace money that they're already spending on public safety. They must maintain public safety initiatives at current levels, at a minimum. If your house is on fire, you want firefighters as fast as possible. If your home is broken into, you want to know the police are on their way. This amendment will help enhance public safety and peace of mind across our state."
In the DHHS budget recommendation, Sen. Roger Hauck (R-Union Twp.) called for ensuring hospitals serving a city with between 21,600 and 21,700 residents, as well as a county with 64,300 to 64,400 residents, will be allocated $102,600 from Michigan's General Fund to have a sexual assault nurse examiners program.
Hauck said he was disappointed when a hospital located within his district, the McLaren Central Michigan Hospital in Mount Pleasant, was not appropriated funding in SB 190 to maintain a training program for healthcare professionals to medically and emotionally support sexual assault survivors.
"McLaren Central Michigan provides care to victims from a number of counties and their support is critical for area survivors. We need to let survivors of these horrific crimes know they have our support," Hauck said.
Sen. Kevin Hertel (D-St. Clair Shores) did join Republicans in supporting an amendment from Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) dealing with SB 190's appropriation of $20.3 million to the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), Southeast Michigan's principal drinking water and water treatment provider, to cover Highland Park's unpaid water and sewage bills.
The unsuccessful Runestad amendment aimed to clarify that the money could not be deployed until GLWA confirmed rates were reduced in communities that were reportedly subjected to higher costs due to Highland Park's outstanding debt.
"All these communities have been screaming. I've heard from many of those people in those districts. They're paying through the nose for water services, increasing rates . . . so forcing them to continue paying for the poor choices of Highland Park leadership makes no sense whatsoever," Runestad said.
Hertel added a provision into the DHHS budget that the state's health department should prioritize health plans that are owned by nonprofit hospitals or integrated health systems licensed in Michigan, "or that are wholly or majority-owned by nonprofit health plans based and licensed in Michigan," when rebidding for the Medicaid program's comprehensive health plan contract.
