2003 House Bill 4367 ↩

House Roll Call 751: Passed

A supplemental multi-department budget for FY 2003-2004. The bill contains federal and restricted fund appropriations for a variety of programs that will replace general fund dollars cut by Executive Order 2003-23. The executive order, this bill and Senate Bill 556 are part of a December 2003 agreement struck between Sen. Majority Leader Ken Sikkema and Gov. Granholm to close a $900 million gap between desired state spending and expected revenues. Part of that deal includes Senate Bill 852, which would increase the income rate from 3.9 percent to 4.0 percent between Jan. 1, 2004 and July 1, 2004. However, the House version of this bill contains an additional $38 million in cuts above those in the Senate-passed bill. Combined with the additional school aid spending cuts in the House version of Senate Bill 556, and $16.6 million in mass transit cuts proposed in a substitute to House Bill 5298, the House has offered a total of $77.1 million in additional cuts, which is the amount the higher tax rate would raise. Shortly after this vote the House defeated the income tax rate hike. Under the House package, slightly more than half the deficit would be closed with spending cuts, including cuts in local revenue sharing and in grants to colleges and universities, and the balance with new revenue from a proposed tax amnesty and boosted tax collection enforcement, funding shifts, and other means. This bill appropriates $282.6 million in gross funding, mostly federal and state Medicaid money. It also cuts $1.1 million from the judiciary and $1.2 million from the legislature. 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.