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Snyder signs budget

Governor Rick Snyder (R)
Photo courtesy of the Snyder administration
Governor Rick Snyder (R)

Governor Rick Snyder has signed a budget for the coming fiscal year. He says the spending plan includes some tough-but-necessary choices that were necessary to retire a deficit and to set Michigan on a path to fiscal responsibility.

There was plenty of controversy in adopting a new budget with cuts to schools, universities, and local governments. But the governor says Michigan needed to pass an honest budget that does not resort to gimmicks or one-time fixes and starts to pay down the state’s long-term obligations. At the same time, the state will cut taxes on many businesses and require people living on pensions to pay income taxes.

He calls the budget a spending plan that will make Michigan more inviting to businesses and young people looking for jobs.  

“This is a jobs budget.”

The governor says the budget also preserves Medicaid coverage for struggling families. He also says language that would require universities to make detailed reports on their embryonic stem cell research is not constitutional and his administration won’t enforce it.

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He has been covering Michigan’s Capitol, government, and politics since 1987.