Michigan lawmakers pass $81B budget with road funding plan and cuts elsewhere

Inside Michigan's $81B budget

After months of negotiations and missed deadlines, lawmakers have finally come up with a $81 billion budget plan that the governor is expected to sign.

(FOX 2) - Just hours after clearing the Michigan state House, lawmakers in the Michigan state Senate approved a final budget for the upcoming year. The governor is expected to sign the $81 billion funding plan, ending months of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans.

It required compromise between each chamber, yielding a new road funding program, a massive wholesale tax on marijuana, while other parts of previous funding deals like universal free school lunches were maintained. 

After the House voted Thursday evening, the Senate gave their green light to the budget during an early-morning vote Friday.

"We brought members on both sides of the aisle together to provide tax breaks to seniors and working families, protect access to affordable health care, feed every child free meals at school, help our students succeed academically, and ensure Michiganders are safe in their communities," the governor said.

Inside Michigan budget

After it was all said and done, the budget cleared both chambers by wide margins; passing the House 101-8 and the Senate 31-5. 

It's not as big as what Democrats and Whitmer first proposed, but there is more in the final spending bill than what Republicans had originally hoped to cut. Lawmakers blew by a self-imposed deadline as well as an actual deadline and needed short-term funding as they haggled out the final pieces.

Big picture view:

The core pieces of the state's new budget include the highest-ever funding for schools with $10,050 approved in per-pupil money and a continuation of the free school meals program. It amounts to about $23 billion for education.

However, it was more of a mixed bag for state departments, which were left to compete for the other $52 billion allocated for the rest of the budget. State police got a small number while Whitmer's economic development program, like the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) took a hit.

Funding for another 2,000 "ghost" employees was also pulled back, in a win for Republicans.

Both higher education and community colleges got modest boosts to their funding.

There is also a massive new tax on wholesale marijuana purchases that is expected to raise $420 million in new infrastructure money - primarily for local roads instead of highways. It is part of a $1.8 billion road funding plan that has been a cornerstone of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's campaigning for governor.

Shutdown showdown & Proposed Michigan cannabis tax hike

The partial government shutdown continues with no deal in sight. The Pulse takes a closer look at what's impacted by the impasse. Plus, discussing how a proposed 24% tax hike for wholesale cannabis in Michigan could impact the industry.