Michigan inches toward government shutdown deadline
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks in Washington, D.C. in April. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
A statewide government shutdown is less than a week away if a budget deal isn't reached by Oct. 1.
Why it matters: Some state offices and agencies could immediately close without funding in place, potentially restricting access to state-run parks like Belle Isle, for example.
- State payments to local municipalities and school districts also are at risk, particularly if a shutdown drags on.
Threat level: "If we don't get our state aid money, there will be a point where payroll has to stop because people run out of money," Piper Bognar, the superintendent of Van Dyke Public Schools in Warren, told CBS News Detroit.
The big picture: Michigan's Constitution requires lawmakers to pass a balanced budget each year by Oct. 1, when the state's fiscal year begins.
- The current $82.5 billion budget was passed on June 27 of last year.
State of play: This year's budget fight has centered on the need for a road funding plan.
- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, proposed in February a $3 billion plan to fix the state's aging roads with help from new taxes. State lawmakers haven't agreed to that idea.
Instead, the Democratic-led state Senate passed a nearly $84.6 billion budget plan in May that rejected some of Whitmer's suggestions to raise revenue.
- The GOP-controlled House then passed a $78.5 billion budget in August. This budget agreed with some aspects of Whitmer's roads plan, such as dedicating all taxes paid at the pump to roads, but it also proposed spending cuts that Democrats have opposed, Bridge Michigan reports.
What they're saying: The House budget is "not one I would ever sign," Whitmer said in a Sept. 16 speech on the state's economy.
- All sides can work together and pass a budget that funds roads, cuts spending and supports families and schools, she said.
The other side: House Speaker Matt Hall said over the weekend he's optimistic that lawmakers will avoid a shutdown.
- "I am pretty confident because I think that after the governor's speech the other day, I think that more and more Democrats are rallying behind her," Hall told the Detroit News.