It’s a tale of two cities in the newest episode of Podcast 83:
•In Lansing, the Legislature remains at an impasse on pretty much everything, MAC staffers report.
•Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., new spending legislation enacted will mean massive – yet still not clarified – effects for Michigan counties.
“The (Michigan) House and Senate are at an impasse,” said Samantha Gibson, governmental affairs specialist, “as they have been for the last six or seven months now. … Typically, the school aid budget is done (by now) and the rest of the budget is done by July 1. … There's no roads plan that anyone can agree on. The governor has made it clear she wants to see a road plan. Speaker (Matt) Hall has put forth a plan. Senate Democrats have yet to put anything forth, so we will see if and when they do that. But I think until that point, there's not going to be much to talk about, because House Republicans are steadfast in if you want to do (the school aid budget), we're going to do roads with it, and Senate leadership is adamant that everything gets done as a package deal together. So, a lot of discussions, a lot of meetings last week, but no movement on the needle, unfortunately.”
By contrast, federal lawmakers took historic action with a reconciliation bill that means massive changes for Medicaid coverage, food assistance programs and more.
On the plus side, reported Governmental Affairs Director Deena Bosworth, an effort to end tax-exempt status for municipal bonds was thwarted.
Still to be determined, though, is the ultimate impact of changes to Medicaid and SNAP (federal food assistance) for Michigan counties, said Jimmy Johnson, governmental affairs specialist.
“We have 1.5 million residents in Michigan that use SNAP benefits,” Johnson noted. “With these new cuts … we could see $285 billion to $300 billion over 10 years that are going to be cut as well. You are going to be putting in the work requirements. So, there's going to be an additional administrative burden. And with that administrative burden, we could see, on the state side, up to $890 million of additional costs that the state's going to have to be picking up the dime for. So, these are some things that we're going to be watching.”
“Yes, they've got to figure out where they want to fill in (on the state budget),” replied Executive Director Stephan Currie, “and if they want to fill in in some of these areas. A lot of tough decisions are going to have to be made going forward. … (B)ut it does provide some clarity, at least, of what they have to deal with now, which I think is helpful in the overall budget process, when we start looking at getting a (state) budget done by Oct. 1.”
See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org
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