2005 House Bill 4831 ↩

House Roll Call 426: Passed

The House-Senate conference report for an "omnibus" multidepartment Fiscal Year 2005-2006 House budget. This appropriates virtually all state spending covered by departmental budgets that “originated” in the House, but not those that originated in the Senate. Included is funding for the Department of Community Health, $10.29 billion, ($2.951 billion General Fund), up 0.3 percent from the previous year; Corrections, $1.877 billion, ($1.798 billion General Fund), up 6.3 percent; the Department of Education, $118 million, ($16.4 million General Fund), up 2.5 percent; the Department of Environmental Quality, $375.7 million ($31.8 million General Fund), up 16.4 percent; the Department of Natural Resources, $269 million ($25.5 million General Fund), up 2 percent; Community Colleges, $281 million, down 3.7 percent, and Higher Education, $1.733 billion ($1.57 billion General Fund), up 1.3 percent increase from actual FY 2004-2005 appropriations. The budget does not cut 15,000 current recipients from state welfare rolls, close two Upper Peninsula prisons, or substantially cut funding for Northern Michigan University and Wayne State University as part of a move toward college funding based on actual enrollments, all of which were in the House-passed version. (Grand Valley State, Oakland and Saginaw Valley State universities get large increases, and the others small ones.) The budget does eliminate Medicaid eligibility for some current beneficiaries (far fewer than the House-passed version, though), and requires co-pays for others. It does not include the Senate-passed provision requiring higher co-pays and monthly premiums for some able-bodied Medicaid recipients, but lower these if they sign an agreement to stop smoking and adopt other healthy behaviors.