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Budget action expected in Legislature this week

LANSING, MI (MPRN)--   Action on the state’s budget is expected to pick up this week. 

The state Senate Appropriations committee will consider and possibly vote on multiple budgets – including for the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Those budgets moving through the Senate include large cuts to what Governor Gretchen Whitmer recommended in her proposed budget. Including to the state Attorney General’s budget.

“It was strictly to put those discretionary dollars that we have at our disposal toward things, for instance, like accelerating road funding,” said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey.

Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield won’t say if he agrees with his Republican counterparts on that plan.

“Those conversations are going to be ongoing and we’re going to put forward our own proposal and reach a consensus with the Senate and the administration before the deadline of October first,” he said.

Lawmakers on House subcommittees like Agriculture and Judiciary plan to vote on their budgets this week.

Before becoming the newest Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Cheyna Roth was an attorney. She spent her days fighting it out in court as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Ionia County. Eventually, Cheyna took her investigative and interview skills and moved on to journalism. She got her masters at Michigan State University and was a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer before finding her home with NPR. Very soon after joining MPRN, Cheyna started covering the 2016 presidential election, chasing after Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and all their surrogates as they duked it out for Michigan. Cheyna also focuses on the Legislature and criminal justice issues for MPRN. Cheyna is obsessively curious, a passionate storyteller, and an occasional backpacker. Follow her on Twitter at @Cheyna_R