Michigan House Republicans are preparing for a budget showdown.
A balanced budget is required by the state constitution by October 1. If one’s not approved, there’s a state government shutdown. Until then, there could be a battle between the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate.
State Representative Ann Bollin, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said they need to close the books on last year’s budget first.
“I’m actually very, very hopeful that we can work with the Senate and the admin to come to an agreement this week,” Bollin said. “Certainly, we have a deadline of March 31 is the preferred date so that it can be included in the year-end audit numbers.”
Boland says she believes there’s a lot of leftover bloat and in order to negotiate the next budget, she wants to open the books and identify the outstanding problems so there’s no carryover obligations.
