2003 Senate Bill 285 ↩

House Roll Call 234: Passed

The House version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2003-2004 Department of Career Development and the Michigan Strategic Fund budgets. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/2003-SB-309">Senate Bill 309 </a>.) This appropriates $576.4 million in adjusted gross spending (funded from all sources, including special state restricted fund and federal pass-through dollars, minus interdepartmental transfers), compared to $605.9 million, which was the FY 2002-2003 amount enrolled in 2002, excluding any supplemental appropriations, line-item vetoes, or later cuts. Of this, $65.3 million will come from the General Fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the FY 2002-2003 amount enrolled in 2002 of $64.5 million. Among other changes, the budget reduces Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) funding by $4 million more than $36 million cut the governor proposed. The House added $10 million for a grant to create a life sciences research and commercialization center in the Kalamazoo area, intended to keep in the area 75 to 100 scientists and support staff formerly employed by the Pfizer/Pharmacia Corporation. This is in response to news that following the purchase by Pfizer of the Pharmacia Corporation, the company will close some drug research operations in the area. The $10 million will come from money that would have been used for a targeted tax credit that Pfizer will not receive, because current law makes the credit contingent on creating a certain number of new jobs. Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at <a href="http://www.mackinac.org/4964">Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge</a> at www.mackinac.org/4964.