Basham, Senate Democrats Continue to Fight Against Extreme Cuts to Essential Programs

Senator Ray Basham reported that he and his Senate Democratic colleagues are continuing to work for an agreement to generate the minimal revenues needed to stave off some of the more drastic cuts to K-12 education, college scholarships, police and fire services, and healthcare.

With the 30-day continuation budget expiring, Basham explained that the full-year appropriations for all of the state budgets have been passed. The state, therefore, is not at risk of a shut down. However, due to the drastic decline in state revenues, the budgets do contain severe cuts or totally eliminate funding for certain programs.

Although there appears to be bipartisan interest in securing the necessary revenue for some of these programs, especially K-12 education, there is disagreement on how best to accomplish that. According to Basham, the Republican-led Senate approved a package in early October to raise $300 million in revenue through a combination of measures, while the Democratic House was seeking to raise funds through different means. More recently, Governor Granholm has proposed restoring cuts to education by taxing all tobacco products on the same basis as cigarettes, freezing the income tax personal exemption and cutting some business tax credits.

To add further to Michigan’s funding challenges, on October 22 the state budget director notified the legislature that there is a $212.0 million funding shortfall in the School Aid Fund. This equates to a $127 per pupil funding reduction in each school’s foundation allowance, which is in addition to the $165 per pupil cut that was enacted in the budget several weeks ago. The shortfall is due in part to the failure to generate the $100 million in new revenue that was assumed in the budget as well as the newly projected reductions in the revenue estimates that the K-12 budget was based on.

By law, the shortfall in school funding must be met through a pro-rata reduction in the foundation allowance for all schools and it must be implemented thirty days after the budget letter was issued. In this case, that will be November 21. With this limited window of opportunity, Senator Basham remains hopeful that an agreement on revenues can be reached.

Basham Announces that Wayne, 23 Other Michigan Counties to Receive $38M in Federal Funds to Help Displaced Workers

Senator Basham announced recently that Wayne and 23 other Michigan counties will receive $38 million in federal funding for job retraining and career support services for 8,600 displaced workers. The National Emergency Grants (NEGs) are funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) and distributed by the United States Department of Labor (USDOL).

The $38 million was awarded for three regions covering the counties of Allegan, Bay, Berrien, Cass, Genesee, Huron, Kent, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Midland, Monroe, Muskegon, Oakland, Oceana, Ottawa, Saginaw, Sanilac, Shiawassee, St. Clair, Tuscola, Van Buren, Washtenaw, and Wayne.

National Emergency Grants are distributed by the Secretary of Labor to provide employment-related services for unemployed workers. The grants are intended to temporarily expand service capacity at the state and local levels by providing time-limited funding assistance in response to significant job loss events like factory closings. Funding is available to dislocated workers in the region for one year from the date of the award. Currently displaced workers and those who lose their jobs over the next two months are eligible to receive training and support services.

Basham Applauds Passage of Legislation to Keep Michigan Wetlands Protection Program

Senator Ray Basham announced the State of Michigan will continue to regulate wetlands as a result of legislation recently signed by Governor Granholm. He was present with the Governor and other key stakeholders for the signing of Senate Bill 785, now Public Act 120 of 2009. Basham worked closely with the bill sponsor, Republican Senator Patty Birkholz, to garner bipartisan support for the bill in the legislature and unanimous support from both the environmental and regulated communities.

Due to the state’s budget woes, it had been recommended last winter that wetlands regulation in Michigan be turned over to the federal government. Doing so would have saved the state approximately $2 million annually. However, there were many concerns that the federal safeguards would not be as stringent as the state's nor would the response time for permits be as prompt. The latter was a serious concern as it could prove to be detrimental to business and development in the state.

The Senator explained that with Michigan’s vast water resources it was in the state’s interest to maintain control of this program and its ability to protect the environment. He pointed out that Michigan hosts more than 5.5 million acres of wetlands in watersheds connected to 11,000 inland lakes and 36,000 miles of rivers and streams.

According to Basham a number of improvements were made to the wetlands program to first and foremost ensure that it is more efficient. The new law also opens up opportunities to expand cranberry farming in the state, which estimates say could eventually bring in $153 million and 1,000 jobs to Michigan.

Although the newly revamped program is currently only funded for three years, this legislation establishes a Wetlands Advisory Council to make recommendations to the Governor and the legislature on additional improvements to the program and also on how it should be funded past 2012. The Advisory Council would be made up of environmentalist, business people, and government officials.

Basham Joins Colleagues to Approve Utility Shutoff Regulation Bills

Senator Basham joined his colleagues in the State Senate this week to pass several pieces of legislation that would protect Michigan residents from dangerous utility shutoffs. The bills are part of an extensive bipartisan legislative package to ban winter utility shutoffs and regulate other shutoff practices for all utility companies throughout the state. The five bills that passed this week will allow the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to regulate municipal utilities to prevent utility shutoffs and help citizens keep their power on. This brings these utilities in line with what is already current law for other regulated utilities to ensure all consumers have the same protection against shutoffs.

This legislative package was introduced to prevent tragedies like the death of Marvin Schur, a 93-year-old World War II veteran in Bay City. He was found frozen to death in his home last winter after Bay City Electric Light and Power, a municipal utility not subject to MPSC rules, placed an electric limiter on his home.