LANSING- Michigan Senate officials announced this week that Sen. Deb Cherry (D-Burton) has been selected to serve on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government. Sen. Cherry’s appointment was announced this week, and her seat was added by the Senate Majority Leader to maintain some party balance on the committee after an additional Republican position was recently incorporated.

“This committee may have a simple name, but it oversees some of the most important budgets in the state that we all rely on,” said Sen. Cherry. “This is a great honor to serve on this committee, and I look forward to working in a bipartisan fashion to make the important-even if occasionally difficult-decisions to preserve the public trust and move Michigan forward.”

The Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government manages some of the major state office and department budgets. The committee is charged with making decisions on local revenue sharing, as well as the budget approvals for the Attorney General, the Office of Management & Budget, and the Secretary of State-including decisions on branch expansions and closings. The committee also covers the budgets for the Departments of Civil Rights, Information and Technology, Treasury and Civil Service.

Sen. Cherry was already assigned to three other Appropriations Subcommittees at the beginning of this legislative session in January 2007: Capitol Outlay, Department of Community Health (DCH), and Retirement. As the ranking Democrat on the DCH and Retirement panels and returning to Capitol Outlay, she is able to influence legislation that determines spending on a host of human and health services issues, concerns the Senator has been addressing throughout her legislative career.

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