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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

State House passes budget extension, seeks to restore Promise grants

Mark Hornbeck / The Detroit News

'Lansing -- The House passed a 30-day continuation budget this morning as a fallback plan should the Legislature fail to adopt a budget by today's midnight deadline for government shutdown and ordered its members not to leave the chamber.

The temporary spending plan passed 88-18. The Senate approved the continuation budget last week. It now goes back to the Senate for an "immediate effect" vote, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm has 14 days to sign it.

"This means state government won't shut down," said Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills.

Still, Granholm pushed lawmakers to send her a continuation budget bill quickly.

"They need to send us the bill now," said Liz Boyd, Granholm's spokeswoman. "We have state employees who will be leaving their shifts mid-afternoon."

"We won't be deterred, we won't be stopped," said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop. "We will continue to abide by the agreement with the House. She can say and do whatever she pleases. It's not going to stop this chamber from moving forward."

The governor wants the Senate to give immediate effect to the continuation budget by 2 p.m. so the state can notify employees who work late shifts to report for work, Melton said. Also, draw bridges will be locked up and campgrounds closed down this afternoon if the 30-day budget is not finalized, he said.

"We're asking the Senate to take up the continuation budget so people can feel at ease state government will not shut down at midnight," he added.

Melton said the House will take up the school aid version of the continuation budget later today.

Legislators got an early start with an eye toward passing several tough budget bills. Session is expected to run all day.

The House will try to muster the votes to approve deep cuts in school aid, Medicaid, college scholarships and aid to local governments. House leaders essentially locked members in beginning at 10:40 a.m., and none can leave while they're taking votes.

In voting today:

• The House voted 66-42 for supplemental spending to restore Promise grant scholarship money for college students, reduce revenue sharing cuts to 3 1/2 percent and restore some health care cuts. But there is no revenue provision in the bill to find money to carry out those moves.
• The State Police conference report failed in the Senate over provisions that would allow the state to buy a new headquarters building that's built in Lansing.

The Senate deadlocked with a 17-17 vote on the State Police budget after Sen. Cameron Brown, R-Sturgis, described it as a "$70 million palace" the state neither needs nor wants. The report also would restore 55 laid off police troopers.

The House included money to lease the building for about $5 million annually. The Senate did not fund the headquarters in its budget. Brown said the contract the developers signed allows the state to back out of the deal.

"Now instead of leasing the building for 25 years, Michigan residents would be asked to purchase it over 17 years," Brown said. "(If the state walks away) no promise was broken and nothing occurred that the developer was unaware of when they signed the budget."

• A House-Senate conference committee on transportation, the last conference committee to come to agreement, put a cap on the state's potential involvement in building a second Detroit-to-Windsor bridge in a conference report approved this morning.

The budget included in the report would limit the state's contribution to $2.5 million, and requires that a traffic study and proposal be completed by May 1, 2010.

The conference report reduces gross transportation funding of $3.26 billion, including $93.5 million less in state transportation funding, reflecting an ongoing reduction in fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees collected in the state.

About $5.6 million in funding is included for rail passenger service, a $4 million reduction and about one-half to three-quarters of operating assistance needed to fund Amtrak rail service for a year. The reduction includes a $1.2 million cut in state general transportation funding.

The Senate approved the transportation report by an ample margin. But Majority Floor Leader Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, immediately motioned for reconsideration, with no objection, so the matter has been put on hold.

• The house passed the higher education budget, 57-51, one more than needed. The margin indicates that there is a large enough coalition in the Democrat-dominated House to pass tough cuts. The margin was closer on the vote for the Community Health budget, 56-52, but the budget bill passed.

Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, said earlier he's not sure he has the votes to pass the painful cuts.

"I'm concerned about all of them," Dillon said about spending bills that are in position for a floor vote.

• The Senate passed the community colleges funding bill, but a move was made to reconsider the vote, so it's on hold, along with the budgets for State Police and corrections.

While passage of most of the budget measures appears to be an easier task in the Republican-controlled Senate, the worry there is gaining the so-called "immediate effect" vote needed to put the bills in place Thursday, when the new fiscal year begins. Senate leaders must find at least four Democratic votes to accomplish this, otherwise the legislation doesn't take effect until March. Democrats have uniformly voted against most of the spending bills considered by the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, said he's confident the votes will be there for immediate effect.

"I don't think members will shut down state government on a procedural move," Bishop said.

The House also may take up tax increase bills that would not be part of the budget, but could be used later to generate revenue to soften some of the harsh cuts. Dillon said he'll take stock of how much additional revenue is needed after all the budget bills are passed before deciding which tax increases to pursue.

Ultimately, the budget bills must be signed by Granholm, who has expressed disapproval with several of the spending bills but has stopped short of pledging a veto.