2003 House Bill 4392 ↩

House Roll Call 462: Passed

The House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2003-2004 Department of Community Health budget. This appropriates $9.417 billion in gross spending (funded from all sources, including state restricted fund and federal pass-through dollars), compared to $9.730 billion, which was the FY 2002-2003 amount passed by the legislature in 2002, excluding any supplemental appropriations, line-item vetoes, or later cuts. Of this, $2.561 billion will come from the General Fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the FY 2002-2003 amount enrolled in 2002 of $2.477 billion. The conference report does not include a $60 million transfer to this budget from the Merit Award scholarships. It does contain a $50 million in federal money for the Detroit Medical Center (DMC), which is on the verge of bankruptcy, and a $59 million increase in state mental health programs the governor had recommended. Gross spending in the conference report is $369 million above the amount originally recommended by the governor, and General Fund spending is $22 million less, most of which is due to federal Medicaid money sent to the states as part of the 2003 Bush tax cut deal. 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.