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Subcommittee adopts community college H1 substitute; House deletes 60‑by‑30 goal and tightens DEI and athletics rules
Summary
The subcommittee reported the H1 substitute for HB 4,579 (community college appropriations), which holds community college SAF funding largely flat, removes one‑time appropriations, deletes the 60 by '30 attainment goal, and adds boilerplate restricting DEI spending and athletics participation rules.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee reported the H1 substitute for House Bill 4,579, the community college appropriations bill, after an overview from House Fiscal Agency staff and member questions about operations funding and veterans' provisions.
Perry Zylak said the House H1 has a gross appropriation of $456.7 million (restricted School Aid Fund) for community colleges, a decrease of about $5.6 million (1.2%) from the current fiscal year. The House removes one‑time appropriations previously in the executive recommendation and reduces operations SAF by approximately $3.6 million.
Zylak summarized boilerplate additions the House made: deletion of procurement preferences for veteran‑owned businesses in Buy American/Buy Michigan language; deletion of language encouraging procurement from geographically disadvantaged businesses; new tuition and fee restraint reporting requirements and a revised formula for district tuition restraints; a restriction preventing community colleges from spending SAF on DEI programs (amounts so spent would be reduced from operations allocations); a 10% cap on non‑instructional salary spending or penalties deducted from operations allocations; and language prohibiting participation of biologically defined males on biologically defined female sports teams with a 5% monthly payment withholding for noncompliance.
Representative Longjohn asked how the colleges would maintain affordability without additional operations support; Representative Rogers raised concerns about removing supports for veteran‑owned businesses and veteran residency considerations. Committee members said those points will be part of negotiations moving forward. The committee reported the H1 substitute (5 yeas, 2 nays).
