Gov. Granholm signs final 6 budget bills
By Marissa Cumbers (Last updated: 11/01/09 11:34pm)Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed Michigan’s final six budget bills Friday and announced 75 additional vetoes, totaling $127 million.
“I will not pretend that this is a good budget,” Granholm said in a statement. “This budget cuts, rather than supports, Michigan’s most pressing priorities — educating our children and helping them pay for a college education, maintaining health care for our most vulnerable citizens, and keeping police officers and fire fighters on the streets of our communities.”
Items vetoed from Michigan’s 2009-10 fiscal year budget include earmarks and pilot programs built in by the Legislature, said Megan Brown, a spokeswoman for the governor.
The package included Michigan’s higher education budget, which eliminates the Michigan Promise Scholarship and about 61 percent of financial aid funding.
“I am particularly disappointed that the bill includes no funding for the Michigan Promise scholarships, and I strongly encourage the Legislature to get to work on finding the resources to keep this commitment to our students,” Granholm said.
The higher education budget also eliminated state nursing scholarships, the Part-Time Independent Student Program, the Michigan Work-Study Program and the Michigan Education Opportunity Grants. State funding for university operations was cut by .4 percent.
Granholm also finalized a $101-million cut to revenue sharing, which funds city services such as public safety.
Granholm avoided what would have been the second government shutdown in two months by signing the bills just one day before the state’s temporary budget expired. The temporary budget was passed after a two-hour government shutdown Oct. 1 when the Legislature failed to balance Michigan’s $40 billion budget.
Granholm signing all 15 budget bills means the state successfully erased this year’s $2.8 billion deficit. However, the governor promised to continue fighting for revenue enhancements and tax increases to restore the Michigan Promise Scholarship and ease cuts to Medicaid programs, revenue sharing and K-12 schools, Brown said.
But Matt Marsden , spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester , has said the Republican-led Senate will not pass any tax increases to refund items eliminated to balance the budget.
Brown said the governor will continue to encourage the Senate to compromise.
Originally Published: 10/30/09 3:56pm
Bad Governor
10/30/09 4:17pmYou are full of hot air, Granholm. You Promised a scholarship, then you Promised you would veto the elimination of the scholarship, now your Promising to encourage the Legislature? Get real. You are not honorable.
Student out of a scholarship
10/30/09 5:56pmA State Senate unwilling to compromise is not honorable. The branches of government have to work together to improve the lives of their constituents, which requires compromise. In my opinion, Mike Bishop broke Michigan’s Promise.
bad state
10/31/09 6:07pmThis state sucks. this is why we have the highest unemployment rate. Senator stealing money and not letting this country succeed. lets get the hell out of michigan
HEATHER
10/31/09 7:59pmWHY DIDNT THEY ELIMINATE THIS AS A SCHOLARSHIP WITH THIS YEARS GRADUATING CLASS-NOT TAKE IT AWAY FROM THE KIDS THAT WORKED FOR IT. MAYBE WE SHOULD PROMISE TO PAY OUR TAXES AND THEN SAY-WE CAN’T ITS NOT IN OUR BUDGET
h1n1
10/31/09 8:55pmLived here for 1 year, once im done with law school, I am running the hell away from this backwards state. I feel like I live in madmax here in Michigan.
Tony
10/31/09 11:38pmWell kiddies, the next time the state proposes a tax increase, convince your parents not to run away screaming. And since most MSU student’s families make well over 100K/year, your parents were the ones screaming the loudest. You don’t get something for nothing.
CollegeGirl
11/01/09 4:08pmWe fought so hard. Colleges coming together, students calling their representatives, writing letters. And then it gets killed. Yet people wounder why people are leaving the state.
To Tony:
11/01/09 8:14pmI attend a little college called Lake Superior State University, and my parents make nothing a year. I made 4500 last year and close to 6000 this coming up year. This is not enough to come close to paying for colleges. Although I have excellent credit, I have no ‘permanent’ address and my credit is ‘new’ and I cannot get private loans. I rely on things like the MI Promise and Educational Opportunity grants.
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