2003 House Bill 4393 ↩

Senate Roll Call 392: Passed

The House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2003-2004 Department of Environmental Quality budget. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/2003-HB-4418">House Bill 4418</a>.) This appropriates $332.2 million in adjusted gross spending (funded from all sources, including state restricted fund and federal pass-through dollars, minus interdepartmental transfers), compared to $390.7 million, which was the FY 2002-2003 amount enrolled in 2002, excluding any supplemental appropriations, line-item vetoes, or later cuts. Of this, $56.1 million will come from the General Fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the FY 2002-2003 amount enrolled in 2002 of $69.4 million. The conference report includes some – but not all – of the revenue from new pollution and wastewater discharge fees proposed by the governor, because the legislature did not raise the fees by the full amount requested by the governor. It also adds funding for programs that monitor septic tanks, swimming pools and campgrounds. The administration proposed eliminating these due to inadequate funding. Gross funding in the conference report is $2.3 million above the amount originally recommended by the governor, and General Fund spending is $3.1 million higher. 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.