After finalizing the
budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year, Governor Rick Snyder stated that administration
had passed a balanced budget, with increased education funding. The signing of Senate
Bill 133 and House
Bill 4115, the omnibus and education budgets respectively, ensured that the
Governor’s administration has passed a balanced budget well before the end of
the fiscal year in all five years.
Speaker of the House
Kevin Cotter (R-Mount Pleasant) celebrated the passage of the budget, saying
that this budget was one heavy on investment as many of the issues that have
ailed the state have already been addressed. The budget was praised by other
leaders in the legislature, including Representative Al Pscholka (R-Stevensville),
the chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Representative Pscholka said
that he hopes the legislature is able to continue finishing balanced budgets
before their deadline long after he has left the chamber.
Governor Snyder did
use his line-item veto power; however, he said that the veto was minor and the
Prepaid Inpatient Health Plan funds were addressed in a separate section of the
budget. Mr. Snyder also found that three sections of the budget were unable to
be enforced, those sections being: cost sharing for road construction,
administering the GED-to-school program, and the examination of livestock that
have been killed by predators.
The budget does not
have a provision for a permanent solution to the state’s transportation
problem; however, according to the Governor, there is enough funding to ensure
transportation spending can continue until a solution is reached.