Budget talks remained stalled in Lansing Wednesday as K-12 schools, public universities, and community colleges prepared to start classes without being able to include state funding in their plans.
Under a 2019 state law, the Legislature is supposed to finalize a budget deal by July 1, but there's no penalty in the statute for missing that date.
There is, however, support among legislative leadership for adding consequences.
Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, a Republican, has supported withholding lawmakers’ pay for missing the July 1 deadline.
“If we had had legislation in place that took away the politicians’ pay if they missed their deadline on a budget, I would’ve got a deal done before July 1,” Hall said.
Senate Majority Leader Brinks, a Democrat, said there’s strong support for withholding lawmakers’ pay on her side of the Capitol building too.
“Clearly the law that was passed in ’19, that does not have teeth, was not effective this year,” Brinks said.
So far, neither side has actually brought forward a bill to dock pay as a consequence for not passing a budget.
With the July deadline in the past now, the more pressing deadline is October 1, when the state's fiscal year begins. Without a budget by then, nonessential state government services would shut down.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she remains in touch with Democratic and Republican leaders in the Legislature to try and move talks along.
“We’ve got to get it done and it’s got to get done on time or it’s bad for everybody,” the Democratic governor said.
The state's public schools and higher education institutions are more than a month into their fiscal years and don't know how much funding to expect from the state. Some are considering whether they'll be able to continue providing free meals to students.
Whitmer said the problem is political polarization in a Legislature with a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-run Senate.
“In governance it’s not new, but I think that it’s more acute and more concerning now than ever,” she said. “We’re seeing it in Washington, D.C. It’s been going on for quite awhile. I am working hard to make sure that we don’t see that kind of gridlock here in Michigan.”
The governor said the work is getting down to the wire.
“You can’t send bills to the governor on October 1 and think that they go into effect that day,” Whitmer said. “The budget’s got to get done at least a week in advance of that, if not two. And, so, yeah, we’re down to a matter of weeks.”
The situation is also complicated by last month’s federal budget law, which has boosted Michigan’s Medicaid and food assistance program costs. A Citizens Research Council of Michigan study found the law will cost the state $1.1 billion.
