Michigan
Michigan lawmakers approve $82.5B state spending plan for 2025
LANSING — Michigan lawmakers early on Thursday passed an $82.5 billion state budget for the 2025 fiscal year, with just over $59 billion going to support state government agencies and about $23.4 billion going toward education.
After a session that spanned 19 hours, the spending plan was approved at 5:10 a.m. with immediate effect, despite nearly unanimous Republican opposition, and sent on to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is expected to sign it into law.
It’s a bigger budget than the $80.7 billion spending plan Whitmer proposed in February, but state revenues and fund balances have improved somewhat since then.
The biggest drama surrounding the final budget plan related to school funding. The budget’s freezing of the K-12 per-pupil grant for 2025 at this year’s level of $9,608 created a split with sectors of the public school education community that has been one of Whitmer’s staunchest allies. Groups such as the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators and the K-12 Alliance of Michigan spoke out strongly against the funding plan Wednesday and said it would result in layoffs. That’s despite the fact Whitmer’s administration insisted schools would have more money to spend in the classroom in 2025 than they did this year, due to a major cut in what school districts will have to pay to the school employee retirement fund.
Without assurances that the one-time cut in retirement expenditures will be permanent, the budget “provides no long-term funding relief and will lead to layoffs this fall and in the future, as the funding for our schools will not be enough to keep up with inflation, rising health care costs, and the ending of federal relief dollars,” the association of superintendents and administrators said in a Wednesday action call to its members.
Charter schools, which don’t pay into the Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System, would receive a 3.9% increase to their per-pupil grants, according to an analysis of House Bill 5507 prepared by the House Fiscal Agency.
The education budget passed the House early Thursday in a 56-54 party-line vote and hours later passed the Senate 20-18, also along party lines. Senate Republicans did not try to fight immediate effect for the two budget bills, as they could have done, since neither had the required two-thirds support.
The Democratic-led House also passed Senate Bill 911, which would reduce school district contributions to the employee retirement fund not just for 2025, but for future years. Democrats say the reduction is justified because post-retirement health care for teachers is now fully funded, though other shortfalls in the pension fund continue.
“Teachers and school employees have more than met their obligation to retiree health care and deserve to have their hard-earned dollars back,” said Rep. Regina Weiss, D-Oak Park, chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on School Aid and Education. “This legislation ends a decades-long policy that resulted in underfunded classrooms and a loss of pay for teachers.”
The main state government bill passed the Senate in a 20-17 vote, shortly before 4:30 a.m., with only Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, joining Democrats in voting yes. The House then approved the spending plan in a 56-54 party-line vote.
Together, the bills fund the 2025 state fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2024 through Sept. 30, 2025.
The Whitmer administration and Democratic legislative leaders have framed the overall budget as one that continues her administration’s emphasis on improving education while reducing costs for Michigan families, takes steps to make Michigan more attractive for major manufacturing projects, and improves the equity of state government spending priorities to better benefit communities that have historically been underserved. Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the budget is “fiscally responsible and also looks out for every Michigander.” State Budget Director Jen Flood has also characterized the budget as a return to normal after several years of sharply increased revenues, largely as a result of federal COVID-19 relief funding.
Republicans denounced the budget as bloated and accused Democrats of raiding retirement funds to find more dollars to spend, after quickly burning through a $9-billion state surplus. “They’ve created an unsustainable state budget and they want to play shell games to simply tread water,” said Sen. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell.
As one would expect for a governor who enjoys a Legislature controlled, albeit narrowly, by members of her own party, Whitmer got much of what she wanted in the final budget plan. But she didn’t get everything.
Whitmer’s proposed $25 million Michigan Vehicle Rebate Program was among the budget items that ended up on the committee room floor, according to a summary of Senate Bill 747 prepared by the House Fiscal Agency. It would have provided point-of-sale rebates of $2,000 for the purchase of new electric vehicles and $1,000 rebates for the purchase of internal combustion vehicles, with an extra $500 thrown in for vehicles that were union-made.
Also not making the cut in the final budget plan was Whitmer’s controversial proposal to raise an extra $80 million by massively increasing Michigan’s landfill tipping fees to $5 per ton, up from 36 cents per ton. The extra money would have been used in part to hire more people in the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy to clean up the state’s contaminated sites.
The conference committee also axed a Whitmer proposal to raise extra money by requiring motorists to “opt out” of getting a recreation passport for state parks when they renew their vehicle registrations, rather than “opting in” for the extra charge, as they do now. Had it gone ahead, the change was expected to raise a little more than $17 million extra per year.
And Whitmer’s call in her January State of the State to accelerate Michigan’s move toward universal publicly funded pre-kindergarten, by removing all income requirements for families to qualify, didn’t quite get there, either. Under the budget, 4-year-olds in all Michigan families, regardless of income, are eligible for free pre-kindergarten. But in the event there is a shortage of spaces, priority will be given to families with incomes at or below 400% of the federal poverty level.
Among the items included in the budget are:
- $100 million to help the Michigan State Housing Development Authority increase housing stock and affordability through the construction of new single-family and multi-unit homes, renovation of existing units, and improvement of energy efficiency. This marks a $50 million reduction from what Whitmer called for in February.
- $65.1 million to increase child care provider pay rates by 15%. This marks an increase from Whitmer’s February budget proposal, which called for a 10% pay hike, but it’s less than the 20% increase in child care provider rates in the version of the budget passed earlier by the Senate.
- Creation of a Michigan Innovation Fund, assuming required state legislation is passed and signed into law, to support Michigan startups, including through direct funding, technical assistance and other services. The fund was initially proposed at $60 million.
- An extra $15 million for the Pure Michigan tourism promotional campaign on top of the $25 million it received this year, with $14 million of the extra funding coming from remaining federal COVID-19 funding.
- Close to $2.1 billion transferred to local road agencies from the Michigan Transportation Fund, which is an increase of $110 million from this year.
- A 2.5% increase for operating costs at Michigan community colleges and public universities.
- $45.5 million to assist businesses locating or expanding in Michigan, specifically around workforce needs. The money would also be used to support development of “customized talent solutions to help fill identified needs in certain industries.” This reflects an increase of the $20 million proposed for this purpose in Whitmer’s February budget proposal. Also, neither the House nor the Senate included any money under this line item in the budgets each passed earlier this year. Separately, the budget includes $2 million to increase the amount of high-tech talent in Michigan through various programs.
- $335 million in one-time “enhancement grants,” including: $12.5 million for the planned Pine Rest Pediatric Behavioral Health Center of Excellence in Grand Rapids; $10 million for the Frankenmuth Youth Sports Complex; $10 million for Potter Park Zoo in Lansing; $7 million for Detroit Zoo infrastructure; $5 million for Mt. Clemens downtown redevelopment; $5 million for Plaza Roosevelt Park improvements in Grand Rapids; and $4 million for the Jim Crow Museum in Big Rapids.
- $18 million in grants to museums, including $5 million to the Motown Museum in Detroit, $2 million to the Lakeshore Museum Center in Muskegon, $1 million to the Chaldean Cultural Center in West Bloomfield, and $1 million to the Michigan Flight Museum near Belleville. Another $9 million would be awarded on a competitive basis to museums and nonprofits that operate educational programs at museums or provide other support to them.
- $6 million for Michigan orchestras, with $750,000 allocated for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the balance going to other orchestras through a needs-based program.
- $1.5 million for renovation costs of a township hall in Brownstown Township.
- $10 million to support minority-owned businesses, with funds to be awarded in a “geographically diverse” manner.
Soon after approving the budget, lawmakers adjourned for a summer break. They are next scheduled to meet at the end of July.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.
Michigan
Progressives rally for Abdul El-Sayed: 4 takeaways from Bernie Sanders, AOC – Bridge Michigan
Michigan
Q&A: Bernie Sanders on wildfires, the Senate race, cyclosporiasis
U.S Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and an influential figure in liberal politics, argues that the question facing Democratic primary voters in Michigan this summer is whether to maintain the “status quo” or to pursue “real change.”
Sanders made the arguments during an interview with The Detroit News ahead of a series of campaign events over the weekend in Michigan, where he supported progressive former health official Abdul El-Sayed’s bid for the Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate nomination.
El-Sayed is in a heated and close race in the Aug. 4 primary against U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham, who’s been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township and former U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Lansing.
Sanders brushed away the concerns of some Michigan Democrats about whether El-Sayed of Ann Arbor can win a general election contest against Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake Township.
“Maybe it’s time to understand the status quo is not working for working families or the middle class,” Sanders said. “It is working for the fossil fuel industry, for the oil companies. It is working for the insurance companies. It is working for the billionaires. And the people of this country want change.
“They want real change, and Abdul is a vehicle for that change. That is why the billionaire super PACs are spending so much money trying to defeat him.”
What follows is a transcript of a telephone interview with Sanders that’s been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Do you have any thoughts on what’s going on with this smoke? Right now, it’s blanketing Michigan. We have local health departments putting out notices, telling people not to go outside. I know people will be interested in your thoughts on this if you’re willing to share them.
Answer: Look, this is exactly what climate scientists have predicted for decades. The planet is getting warmer. There’s been a terrible heat wave in Europe; thousands of people have died. There is a heat wave in the United States, causing drought. It’s causing forest fires. And what you’re seeing now is a manifestation of that. It is awful. It is horrible. And yet we have a president of the United States who continues to believe that climate change is a “hoax.”
He has cut funding substantially for sustainable energy, which would allow us to cut carbon emissions and address the crisis of climate change. So that’s what we’re looking at right now. It is a very, very serious problem.
Q: Do you think people out there understand that there’s a connection between what’s happening in the air right now and climate change? I mean, do you think that argument’s getting to people?
A: It’s not a question of an argument. This is what climate scientists have been saying: The planet is getting warmer. As we speak, community after community is experiencing in the United States and around the world, record breaking temperatures. And on a given day, it has never been hotter in this city, in that city.
This is the reality of what’s going on. And of course, it is caused by carbon emissions. And of course, it’s caused by climate change and tragically, we have a president of the United States who is more interested in the profits of the oil companies than he is in the health and well-being of the American people.
Q: You have talked about the role of money in politics for so long. And you have a race in this U.S. Senate primary now where Abdul El-Sayed is getting outspent, in outside spending $12 to $1, $50 million pouring in for Haley Stevens. What is your reaction to this? I mean, this is a close race.
A: Thanks for asking that question, and obviously, I have a strong reaction to it. Because this issue, as important as it is for Michigan, and the next senator, it really is a national issue. And the issue here is whether or not we’re going to continue living in a democracy, where we have debates between candidates who have different points of view. Haley Stevens has her point of view, that’s fine. Abdul has his point of view, that’s fine. That’s what democracy is supposed to be about.
But what democracy is not supposed to be about is billionaire super PACs spending unlimited amounts of money. In this case, I think in Michigan, they’re up to $50 million already to buy a United States Senate seat. So in many ways, this election in Michigan is not Abdul versus Haley. It is Abdul versus the billionaire class, and their unlimited amounts of money.
AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), I think, is spending close to $30 million already. They do not want Abdul. Because Abdul knows that we should be investing our funds in our kids and our senior citizens, in education, in housing, not in providing hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to the extremist Netanyahu government in Israel, that has already committed genocide in Gaza, and has helped push us into a war in Iran.
Q: Do you have any concerns that there could be voters who don’t know a lot about this race, who are just seeing the TV ads, hearing Haley’s name, and that that could be the sole difference in this race? I’ve been thinking a lot about your 2016 primary race against Hillary Clinton in Michigan where you pulled off this upset. You had TV ad spending on your side in that race. Your campaign had enough money to run ads to counter what Hillary was doing. Abdul has not been able to match anywhere close to the amount of outside spending here.
Sanders: So to answer your question, of course, I’m concerned about it. If you’re sitting home and you’re not particularly interested or involved in politics, they have ads to tell you how terrible Abdul is and … how wonderful Haley Stevens is. Yeah. I’m sure there’s going to be thousands of people saying, “I’m going to go out and vote for Haley Stevens.”
I would just hope very much that people think for a minute: Why is it that billionaire-funded super PACs are spending so much money? And what are the goals? What do they want? Are they concerned about working-class people? Are they concerned about climate change? Are they concerned about whether or not we have a tax system which demands that the wealthiest people who have never had it so good, start paying their fair share of taxes? Whether or not we guarantee healthcare to all people is a right? So, you know, I think that’s what this campaign is about.
Q: The argument against Abdul that many Democrats are making right now is that they don’t believe he can win the general election against Mike Rogers. What’s your response to that?
A: My response is that is fundamentally flawed. What the Democratic establishment believes is that you want to have establishment type candidates pushing, establishment type, status quo policies, and having those candidates funded, as you’re seeing right now in Michigan, by billionaire super PACs. That’s their theory of how you win.
I think the American people know there’s something fundamentally wrong. When 60% of our people are struggling today to put food on the table, pay for childcare, pay for housing, while the billionaires have never ever had it so good. The American people are sick and tired of the same old, same old status quo policies.
They understand we’ve got to have an economy that works for all, not just the few. So the question is whether we maintain the status quo, which is what the Democratic establishment says, “Vote for us. We’re the status quo. We not going to do much. We’re not going to shake up the system.”
Q: One last question. There’s this parasite outbreak where thousands of people are getting sick with cyclosporiasis. Have you followed this? And do you have any reaction to what’s going on here?
A: I’m not a doctor. But I’m the ranking member on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Trump’s appointment of [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] to head Health and Human Services and his other public health appointments have been disasters. We need public health officials in America who are going to protect the public health of the American people, not get involved in various types of conspiracy theories.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
Michigan
Taylor Farms recall: Check your fridge for iceberg lettuce products sold in Michigan amid cyclosporiasis outbreak
Taylor Farms de Mexico is pulling iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market over possible cyclospora contamination — and the distribution list includes Michigan.
Consumers who purchased the recalled products should discard them immediately and not eat them. Refunds are available at the place of purchase.
What’s being recalled
The action involves shredded iceberg and related iceberg products distributed June 29 through July 16 in:
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AL, AR, CT, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WI
Taylor Farms said it has stopped receiving product from the implicated lot and suspended distribution of iceberg lettuce from central Mexico while it works with the FDA, CDC and state authorities.
Taylor Fresh Foods statement
In a statement, Taylor Fresh Foods said it is “deeply concerned for those who became ill, their families, and the Americans whose trust in the safety of fresh produce has been shaken.”
“Based on information provided yesterday by the FDA, Taylor Farms de Mexico is voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market,” the company said.
The company added that while FDA traceback information is pointing to “a specific independent farm that represents less than 1% of the U.S.’s iceberg lettuce supply” as a potential source, it has “removed all iceberg lettuce from the region indefinitely.”
Taylor Farms also said no Taylor Farms-branded salads or kits are associated with this outbreak, and that no Taylor Farms-branded salad kits contain iceberg lettuce.
What to do if you bought it
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Do not consume the recalled iceberg lettuce products
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Discard the product immediately
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Seek medical care if you are experiencing health issues
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Request a refund at the location of purchase
Consumers with questions can contact Taylor Farms customer care at 855-455-0098, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST.
Michigan reports 2,640 Cyclospora cases; Lettuce identified as possible source of outbreak (July 13)
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