Public Act 327 of 2004

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• Introduced by Rep. Marc Shulman (R) on February 11, 2004, to provide a "template" or "place holder" for a Fiscal Year 2004-2005 General Government budget, which funds the Attorney General, Civil Rights Department, Civil Service Department, Executive, Legislature, Department of Management and Budget, Department of State, Department of Information Technology, and Department of Treasury. This bill contains no appropriations, but may be amended at a later date to include them.
  • Referred to the House Appropriations Committee on February 11, 2004.
    • Reported in the House on March 30, 2004, with the recommendation that the substitute (H-1) be adopted and that the bill then pass.
  • Substitute offered in the House on April 1, 2004. The substitute passed in the House by voice vote on April 1, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Carl Williams (D) on April 1, 2004, to allow the Department of Information Technology to carry over unused funds at the end of the year to the next year's budget, rather than requiring the money to be returned to the state general fund. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on April 1, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Carl Williams (D) on April 1, 2004, to reduce the appropriation to the Attorney General to the level recommended by the governor, which is approximately $1.1 million less. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on April 1, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Shelley Goodman Taub (R) on April 1, 2004, to clarify a technical change in the term for a funding source contained in the bill. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on April 1, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Shelley Goodman Taub (R) on April 1, 2004, to require the Department of Treasury to perform an independent efficiency evaluation of the Detroit water and sewerage department, not just an audit. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on April 1, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Marc Shulman (R) on April 1, 2004, to strip out a $3.2 million for grants to local governments to hire private firms to audit the "personal property" tax returns of local businesses. The personal property tax is a tax on the tools and equipment that businesses use to provide goods and services. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on April 1, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Andy Meisner (D) on April 1, 2004, to incorpoarate into this budget act the "outsourcing" restrictions imposed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm's ”Executive Directives” 1 and 2 on firms that contract with the state to provide goods and services to the state, and restrict contracts with an "expatriated business," which is a firm incorporated in a specified "tax haven country," but has the United States as its principle place of business. . The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on April 1, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Alma Stallworth (D) on April 1, 2004, to require the Department of Treasury to enter a three year contract with a particular credit card company. The amendment failed in the House (43 to 61) on April 1, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Doug Spade (D) on April 1, 2004, to require the Attoney General to report annually to the legislatute on violations of the "do not call" list established by Public Act 612 of 2002 . The amendment failed in the House (41 to 61) on April 1, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on April 1, 2004, to require the Attorney Gneral to give the legislature an annual report that lists the arrests, convictions and arrearages owed and collected through enforcement of the Child Support and Enforcement System. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on April 1, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on April 1, 2004, to add $7 million for grants to local governments to hire private firms to audit the "personal property" tax returns of local businesses. The personal property tax is a tax on the tools and equipment that businesses use to provide goods and services. The amendment failed in the House (48 to 56) on April 1, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Matt Milosch (R) on April 1, 2004, to require that the grants to local governments to hire private firms to audit the "personal property" tax returns of local businesses, as proposed by the Whitmer amendment, only be used to hire Michigan-based auditors. Grants in the 2003-2004 budget for this purpose went primarily to a South Carolina firm, which reportedly proposed the grant program. The amendment passed in the House (104 to 0) on April 1, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Marsha Cheeks (D) on April 1, 2004, to strip out $500,000 proposed for an independent audit and efficiency review of the Detroit water and sewer department. The amendment failed in the House (44 to 61) on April 1, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on April 1, 2004, to add $7 million for grants to local governments to hire private firms to audit the "personal property" tax returns of local businesses, or for the Department of Treasury to undertake the audits. The personal property tax is a tax on the tools and equipment that businesses use to provide goods and services. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on April 1, 2004.
• Passed in the House (62 to 43) on April 1, 2004, the House version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 General Government budget, which funds the Attorney General, Civil Rights Department, Civil Service Department, Executive, Legislature, Department of Management and Budget, Department of State, Department of Information Technology, and Department of Treasury. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is House Bill 5608.) This appropriates $2.021 billion in adjusted gross spending (funded from all sources, including special state restricted fund and federal pass-through dollars, minus interdepartmental transfers), compared to $2.286 billion, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003. Of this, $345.2 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the FY 2003-2004 amount of $355.1 million. Another $1.622 billion is from “restricted funds,” or earmarked tax and fee revenue. $1.135 billion of this budget is paid out in revenue sharing to local governments. The House version conforms to the governor's proposal to pay revenue sharing to counties out of a fund created by collecting 2004 county property taxes six months earlier, even though that plan appears to be dead (see 2004 Senate Bill 1112). It authorizes approximately $10 million less in adjusted gross spending than the governor recommended. However, the “bottom line” gross spending appears to show $49 million more, due to change in how the House version accounts for the state’s motor vehicle fleet expenses. Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge at www.mackinac.org/4964. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the Senate on April 20, 2004.
  • Referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 20, 2004.
    • Reported in the Senate on June 1, 2004, with the recommendation that the substitute (S-1) be adopted and that the bill then pass.
  • Substitute offered in the Senate on June 1, 2004, to replace the House version of this budget with a Senate version which expresses policy differences between the bodies on certain spending items. See Senate-passed version for details. The substitute includes many "points of difference" on particular line items, which means these items may be revised by an eventual House-Senate conference committee. The substitute passed in the Senate by voice vote on June 1, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Sen. Michael Prusi (D) on June 1, 2004, to prohibit the Secretary of State from closing local branches unless it can be demonstrated in advance that the closing will generate cost savings of at least five percent. The amendment failed in the Senate (17 to 21) on June 1, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Passed in the Senate (21 to 15) on June 1, 2004, the Senate version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 General Government budget, which funds the Attorney General, Civil Rights Department, Civil Service Department, Executive, Legislature, Department of Management and Budget, Department of State, Department of Information Technology, and Department of Treasury. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is House Bill 5608.) This appropriates $2.017 billion in adjusted gross spending (funded from all sources, including special state restricted fund and federal pass-through dollars, minus interdepartmental transfers), compared to $2.286 billion, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003. Of this, $344.6 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the FY 2003-2004 amount of $355.1 million. Another $1.618 billion is from “restricted funds,” or earmarked tax and fee revenue. $1.135 billion of this budget is paid out in revenue sharing to local governments. The Senate version authorizes approximately $4 million less in general fund spending than the governor recommended, and $22 million more in adjusted gross spending. Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge at www.mackinac.org/4964. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the House on June 3, 2004.
• Failed in the House (1 to 98) on June 9, 2004, to concur with a Senate-passed version of the bill. The vote sends the bill to a House-Senate conference committee to work out the differences. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the Senate on June 10, 2004.
• Passed in the Senate (26 to 9) on September 14, 2004, the House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 General Government budget, which funds the Attorney General, Civil Rights Department, Civil Service Department, Executive, Legislature, Department of Management and Budget, Department of State, Department of Information Technology, and Department of Treasury. This appropriates $2.597 billion in unadjusted gross spending, compared to $2.758 billion, which was the final FY 2003-2004 amount. Of this, $335.0 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the final FY 2003-2004 amount of $338.4 million. Another $1.633 billion is from “restricted funds,” or earmarked tax and fee revenue. $1.144 billion of this budget is paid out in revenue sharing to local governments. The budget recognizes revenue from a plan proposed in Senate Bill 1112 to move up the county property tax due date from December to July, and authorizes money to hire private auditors to seek out additional unpaid personal property taxes (capital equipment tax) from private companies. It also increases appropritions for the legislature, the governor's office, and the Attorney General's office. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the House on June 10, 2004.
• Failed in the House (0 to 101) on September 8, 2004, the first House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 General Government budget. This version was rejected because it mistakenly did not include a provision of a verbal agreement between legislative leaders. This would strip out a provision inserted by the Senate prior to the August 2004 elections, threatening a five percent cut to Detroit's revenue sharing payments if the city adopted a citizen initiative legalizing medical marijuana. The initiative passed, but is not expected to have any practical effect, since the state marijuana laws remain on the books. See second conference report for details on the final general government budget. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the House on September 9, 2004, the House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 General Government budget, which funds the Attorney General, Civil Rights Department, Civil Service Department, Executive, Legislature, Department of Management and Budget, Department of State, Department of Information Technology, and Department of Treasury. This appropriates $2.597 billion in unadjusted gross spending, compared to $2.758 billion, which was the final FY 2003-2004 amount. Of this, $335.0 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the final FY 2003-2004 amount of $338.4 million. Another $1.633 billion is from “restricted funds,” or earmarked tax and fee revenue. $1.144 billion of this budget is paid out in revenue sharing to local governments. The budget recognizes revenue from a plan proposed in Senate Bill 1112 to move up the county property tax due date from December to July, and authorizes money to hire private auditors to seek out additional unpaid personal property taxes (capital equipment tax) from private companies. It also increases appropritions for the legislature, the governor's office, and the Attorney General's office. Passed in the House (57 to 40) on September 9, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Signed with line-item veto by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on September 17, 2004, striking out certain additional appropriations for the Attorney General office.
• Received in the House on September 22, 2004.
  • Referred to the House Appropriations Committee on September 22, 2004.