2019 Senate Bill 152 ↩

Senate Roll Call 340: Passed

To authorize $459.3 million in additional spending in the 2019-20 state budget, of which $177.0 million is federal money. This spending was part of the $947 million that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used her line-item veto authority to remove from budgets passed by the Republican-controlled legislature. See also Senate Bill 154, which adds another $114.5 million in additional education spending, for a total of $573.8 million.<br> As part of a deal between the Governor and legislature to finalize the budget, language was added giving the legislature authority in this year's budget only to reverse fund shifts between line items that were made by an executive branch Administrative Board.<br> The added spending in this bill is spread across many budget line items; highlights include: $340 million in additional spending on Medicaid, various subsidies for some hospitals and medical service providers, and smaller amounts for other social welfare programs; $27 million for state "payments in lieu of taxes" to local governments; $13 million for municipal bus subsidies; $13 million for indirect subsidies to local communities in the form of State Police "secondary road patrols;" $30.9 million in prison and corrections funding; $15 million for PFAS contamination response activities; and much more.<br> Importantly, a Senate amendment added language to this bill giving the legislature authority in this year's budget only to reverse fund shifts between line items that were made by an executive branch Administrative Board. The magnitude of these transfers were regarded as an obstacle to the legislature re-authorizing spending to the budget that Gov. Whitmer had line-item vetoed in an effort to gain leverage in negotiating a final budget deal; see also House Bill 5177 and Senate Bill 154.