$63B Government Omnibus Budget Clears Senate; What Were The Republican Amendments?

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 04/29/2026) Senate Democrats Wednesday adopted their $63 billion budget proposal for state departments and government programs, which Republicans protested with more than 45 failed amendment proposals.

The proposal, SB 878, is larger than the $51.8 billion legislators adopted last fall for the current fiscal year.

Despite the spending boost, SB 878 does not ask for the implementation of "sin-taxes," dividing itself from the Governor's proposed new tax rates on vapes, internet gaming through large casinos, pre-wager sports betting and digital ads.

It also does not include a list of Legislative Directed Spending Items (LDSIs) – or special projects advocated for by lawmakers. Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) has criticized House Republicans for wanting to dedicate $150 million to representatives' requests.

"When we talk to people across the state, people are hurting right now, so we didn't want to start negotiations talking about raising taxes – that feels a little tone-deaf when folks are worried about whether their health care will be addressed or whether they can put food on the table," Anthony said.

She added that while senators have been advised to put LDSI requests in the chamber's transparency portal, so the public and the media can view them as budget negotiations unfold, she called the House's $150 million proposal from April 22 "disappointing."

However, SB 878 will depend on a $350 million deposit from Michigan's emergency reserves, or the "Rainy Day Fund," to cover the state's new expenses related to federal Medicaid and food assistance reform passed last summer in Congress' One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

For example, SB 878 includes more than $395.9 million – with more than $302 million coming from the state's General Fund – to projected caseload expenses, based on OBBBA's programmatic changes – in Medicaid, public assistance and child welfare programs overseen by Michigan's health department.

An additional $59 million in SB 878 will go toward authorizing 458 new full-time job positions and $7.4 million in beneficiary support services due to OBBBA's reforms. The proposal sets aside $118.9 million in General Fund dollars to backfill previous wage raises to direct care workers tending to Medicaid patients that were previously covered by federal funding.

The Rainy Day Fund withdrawal is scheduled to be voted on Thursday in Anthony's SB 877 , a supplemental that could cover the current fiscal year.

The supplemental will include the $152 million for Macomb County's Selfridge Air National Guard Base, updating its runway infrastructure to accommodate the new fighter jets that President Donald Trump assigned to the base last April.

"Because we are facing a $1.6 billion deficit . . .there weren't a lot of new investments. We were continuing to try to invest in things that we've invested in over the last few years," Anthony said, describing how there's "not a lot of new, flashy things."

Some of the Senate Republicans' noteworthy amendments included:

A Special Fund For Property & Sales Tax Cuts

Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton), a 2026 candidate for governor, called to dedicate $651.9 million in money from Michigan's Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund – the corporate incentive fund that stopped having money invested into it last year – to a new "property tax relief fund." The fund would be exclusively used for the state to reduce its tax on homestead properties.

It failed by a18-19 party-line, similar to Sen. Mark Huizenga (R-Walker)'s proposed $50 million "sales tax relief fund." Huizenga's suggested fund would cover the state exempting diapers, baby formulas, strollers and infant and child car seats from Michigan's sales tax.

Huizenga said on the Senate floor that his amendment would also cover the costs of eliminating sales taxes on "common household grocery items like cleaning and bathroom supplies."

"When families go to the store, they're not buying extras, they're buying diapers, formula, cleaning supplies and food for their kids," he said. "This amendment provides targeted relief to help Michiganders where it matters most."

Huizenga's 30th Senate district is a very competitive West Michigan seat, which former Vice President Kamala Harris won two years ago.

State Contractors Must Verify Employees Legal Immigration Status

Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake), who serves as chair of the Michigan Republican Party, proposed that prospective state contractors and subcontractors agree to participate in the "E-Verify system" to ensure their workers are in the United States legally.

Runestad's amendment also failed party-line.

"My amendment would prevent state contractors from receiving taxpayer funds if they are not complying with federal immigration law," Runestad said, adding that while serving as an Oakland County commissioner, he authored and passed a mandate that road commission or county project contractors utilize the E-Verify system.

No State Health Department Money For Pro-Terrorist Groups

Sen. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) proposed that money within the Department of Health and Human Services' budget be barred from going to organizations with a "demonstrated history of supporting designated foreign terrorist organizations."

Albert's remarks come as anti-Israel activists in Democratic circles have been criticized for making comments sympathetic toward Hamas and Hezbollah.

State Must Report Employee Occupancy Rate In Buildings

Albert proposed requiring the state's Department of Technology, Management and Budget to make monthly reports on the employee occupancy rate of each state-owned or leased building.

"This amendment does not seek to reopen the debate about working from the office versus working from home. It's about efforts to stop wasting taxpayer money if we routinely have office space that's being paid for and not used," Albert said. "We should accelerate our efforts to consolidate space and save taxpayer money."

Special Investigators For Benson's Involvement With The Southern Poverty Law Center

Runestad also called to fund special investigators within the Attorney General's office to look into Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's – the Democratic frontrunner for governor – involvement with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Earlier this month, the SPLC was indicted on 11 counts by a federal grand jury in Alabama, alleging that the organization engaged in wire and bank fraud, as well as money laundering that involved confidential sources who were paid to provide details on extremist groups. Among those sources are those accused of being Ku Klux Klan members.

Benson was an SPLC undercover investigator, and served on the SPLC's board of directors from 2014 to 2018.

"Radical left, dark money machines that secretly bankroll the KKK, while smearing everyday conservatives as extremists, have no place in Michigan," Runestad said. "This amendment forces the Attorney General's special investigators to do the job that Michigan taxpayers are actually paying them to do, root out this terrible cancer before it spreads any further."

In response, Anthony said on the Senate floor that "well, it wouldn't be a day in this chamber unless the good senator was talking about the KKK," urging folks to vote against Runestad's amendment because the topic was not germane to the budget discussions.