(Source: MIRS.news, Published 06/22/23) The final pieces of the Fiscal Year (FY) FY 2024 are being put together this week as legislative leaders and the Governor's office eye next Tuesday and Wednesday for final action.
MIRS has learned the most likely scenario is that conference committees on a "Big Big" omnibus spending plan and a smaller "School Bus" education spending plan will be scheduled for Tuesday.
The plan is to vote on both omnibus spending plans either Tuesday or early Wednesday.
While the Senate is scheduled to be in session all week, the House is only scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, although -- theoretically -- an additional day could be added.
The week of July 4 follows next week and nothing is expected to happen legislatively at that time or the second full week of July.
Nearly all of the pieces of the budget deal appear to be complete, sources tell MIRS. The questions now revolve around printing, which takes a few days.
One source reported that they are at the "crossing the Ts and dotting the Is at the moment with a final vote on all the bills next week."
If concluded by June 30, it would mark the first time the Legislature actually met the July 1 statutory deadline originally set in 2019, but has not been met since it was set.
In 2020, lawmakers postponed the statutory deadline due to COVID-19. The next three years, it was completely ignored as the Republican Legislature used the calendar as leverage against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer when crafting a final budget deal. Senate and House leaders took budget discussions into September and used the threat of a shutdown to extract a little extra out of negotiations.
