In a session day reminiscent of previous years, the House of Representatives completed work on their budget legislation Thursday by passing an omnibus bill that combines fiscal year 2012 spending for K-12, higher education and community colleges. House Bill 4325 passed 57 – 53 after a six-and-a-half hour session. Republican Representatives Hugh Crawford (R-Novi), Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth), Holly Hughes (R-Montague), Andrea LaFontaine (R-Richmond), Pat Somerville (R-New Boston) and Dale Zorn (R-Ida) joined Democrats in opposition to the legislation.
The House version of the budget cuts K-12 spending by 3.5 percent, a bit less than the 3.9 percent recommended by the Governor; however, sticks to Snyder’s plan of using nearly $1 billion in School Aid Fund resources for higher education and community colleges.
Speculation heading into session, which included visits from Lt. Governor Brian Calley , Budget Director John Nixon and Administration lobbyist Dick Posthumus, had the Republicans as many as 20 “yes” votes shy of passage. The potential for as much as $500 million in new revenue rumored to be coming from the May 16th Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference made many lawmakers second-guess a tough vote that may not be necessary in the long run. The most significant change to the plan may have been the turning point in the GOP caucus’ efforts to secure the necessary votes. The amendment called for universities to lose 5 percent of their state funding if benefits are provided to unrelated “live-ins” of employees.
On Wednesday, the House rolled the other 13 budgets into one bill, HB 4326, and passed the nearly $40 billion spending plan on a 62 – 48 vote with only Republican Representative Kenneth Kurtz (R-Coldwater) joining the 47 Democrats in voting no. The budget includes the closure of the Florence Crane Correctional facility in Mr. Kurtz’s district.
Overall, the House GOP passed a plan that calls for approximately $250 million less than what Governor Snyder proposed in February. Democrats, united in their opposition, took exception to the fact that only one of the 112 amendments offered during the committee process was adopted – and it was then removed on the House floor. Republicans countered by claiming that the 112 amendments accounted for $2 billion in additional spending – an impractical approach to solving the state’s ongoing fiscal dilemma.
The measures will now move to the Senate where it is expected they will be rejected (just as the Senate versions will likely be rejected by the House) so that conference committees may be appointed to finalize the fiscal year 2012 budget – a budget Governor Snyder has asked for by May 31st.