Michigan budget talks inch toward Oct. 1 deadline as lawmakers shore up Medicaid, school meals and roads

State Rep. Joy Andrews said Monday at a Benton Harbor town hall that lawmakers have taken steps to avert an immediate funding crisis as the state works to finish a fiscal-year budget before the Oct. 1 deadline.

"We passed some revenue bills last Thursday," Rep. Joy Andrews said, describing legislation intended to plug holes caused by federal changes to Medicaid reimbursements and the end of federal support for school meals. "That bill blew about a billion dollar hole in the state budget, from Medicaid alone." She added that Michigan will "do our best to hold the line" on Medicaid and related programs.

Andrews said the state also decided not to adopt federal corporate tax cuts, a move she described as "revenue neutral" rather than a tax increase, and that lawmakers used a combination of shifts and new measures to hold funding largely flat. She said one package creates a 24% wholesale excise tax on marijuana to help finance road funding, a choice she said she worried might not produce stable revenues and could unintentionally enlarge the black market.

The representative described last-week votes as largely bipartisan and said the measures aimed to secure Medicaid, school meals and other priorities while the legislature continues negotiating remaining details. "I don't know that we're going to see expansions of programs this year," Andrews said. "Given the state of affairs ... no cuts is a win." She said some budgets are expected to be essentially flat but noted the "devil's in the details" and that final text still needed review.

Andrews emphasized the local stakes: she said about half of births in Michigan are covered by Medicaid and warned that reductions in Medicaid funding could imperil rural hospitals and raise health-care costs for everyone. She estimated that changes could put several rural hospitals at immediate risk without state action.

Local officials at the meeting pressed Andrews on whether the newly proposed road revenues and public-safety dollars would be paired with cuts to constitutional or statutory revenue sharing. Andrews said the administration's presentation to legislators had been "evasive" on revenue sharing details and that cuts to unrestricted local revenue would be a serious concern.

The representative urged residents to stay engaged with lawmakers as the final budget text is released and to contact her office with priorities. "If there's something you really care about and you want to see, please reach out," she said.

The town hall was a listening session, and Andrews said she expected to review the final budget text and press for protections she described as important for Benton Harbor and similar communities.