May 14, 2021
What Happened This Week
This week we saw a lot of budget bills moving through the legislative process. Each year, the Governor proposes her recommendations through the Michigan State Budget Office. Once her recommendations are given, both the Senate and House Appropriations committees go to work to create a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. It is up to the legislature then to create a balanced budget—you can check out a budget timeline provided by the Senate Fiscal Agency on their website here.
The full Appropriations committee recently passed all the subcommittee budgets, and the first round of those budgets passed through the Senate—these are not the final budgets. This week we saw movement on these bills:
- Senate Bill 77 (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development)
- Senate Bill 79 (Department of Health and Human Services)
- Senate Bill 80 (Department of Corrections)
- Senate Bill 81 (Judiciary)
- Senate Bill 82 (General Omnibus)
For Senate Bill 82, I offered an amendment that would restore the Governor’s recommendation of $200,000 in funding for the Children’s Ombudsman’s office that would allow them to increase their number of FTE’s (full time employees). I took to the Senate floor to speak to this amendment and the real life impact this funding could have. Click here if you’d like to watch the entirety of my speech.
- Senate Bill 83 (K-12 School Aid)
- Senate Bill 84 (Department of Education)
- Senate Bill 85 (Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity)
For Senate Bill 85, I offered an amendment that would restore the Governor’s proposed recommendation of $25 million for the Mobility Future Initiative. Right now, this is a space where we’re leading, but without increased investment, we are set up to lose our place. Click here to watch the entirety of my speech on this amendment.
- Senate Bill 86 (Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs)
- Senate Bill 87 (Department of Financial Services)
- Senate Bill 88 (Department of Military and Veterans Affairs)
- Senate Bill 89 (Department of State Police)
- Senate Bill 90 (Department of Natural Resources)
- Senate Bill 91 (Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy)
- Senate Bill 92 (State Transportation)
- Senate Bill 93 (Higher Education)
- Senate Bill 94 (Community Colleges)
On all but one of these budget bills, I voted no. While I support many of the projects and areas these proposed budgets fund, the bills as they currently stand ultimately fell short of what schools, communities and families deserve and I believe there’s more work that needs to be done. While we continue through the budget process, I look forward to negotiations and continued conversation with my colleagues to further integrate more of the needs of our constituents and the needs of Michiganders to get back on their feet after this incredibly challenging last year.
Mallory McMorrow
State Senator
13th District