Public Act 350 of 2004

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• Introduced by Sen. Shirley Johnson (R) on March 3, 2004, to provide the “template” or “place holder” for a Senate Republican version of a Fiscal Year 2004-2005 Department of Environmental Quality budget. This bill contains no appropriations, but may be amended at a later date to include them.
  • Referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 3, 2004.
    • Reported in the Senate on March 30, 2004, with the recommendation that the substitute (S-1) be adopted and that the bill then pass.
  • Substitute offered in the Senate on March 30, 2004, to replace the executive proposal for this budget, contained in Senate Bill 1039 , with a budget that expresses policy differences between the Republican-majority in the House and Governor Jennifer Granholm on certain spending items. See Senate-passed version for major features, and Senate Fiscal Agency analysis for detailed analysis. (the “Text and Analysis” at the top of this bill’s MichiganVotes.org page is a link to this). The substitute passed by voice vote in the Senate on March 30, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Sen. Ray Basham (D) on March 30, 2004, to strip out a $700,000 appropriation for weed-control in Higgins Lake. The amendment passed by voice vote in the Senate on March 30, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Sen. Liz Brater (D) on March 30, 2004, to eliminate a proposed air quality program funding source shift that would substitute general fund money with air pollution permit fee revenue. The amendment failed 16 to 22 in the Senate on March 30, 2004.
    Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
• Passed 31 to 7 in the Senate on March 30, 2004, the Senate version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 Department of Environmental Quality budget. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is Senate Bill 1039.) This appropriates $326.2 million in adjusted gross spending (funded from all sources, including special state restricted fund and federal pass-through dollars, minus interdepartmental transfers), compared to $332.2 million, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003. Of this, $36.0 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the FY 2003-2004 amount of $56.1 million. The Senate version authorizes approximately the same amount of gross spending as the governor recommended. Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge at www.mackinac.org/4964.
  Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
• Received in the House on March 30, 2004.
  • Referred to the House Appropriations Committee on March 30, 2004.
    • Reported in the House on June 8, 2004, with the recommendation that the substitute (H-1) be adopted and that the bill then pass.
  • Substitute offered in the House on June 9, 2004, to replace the Senate version of this budget with a House version which expresses policy differences between the bodies on certain spending items. See House-passed version for details. The substitute passed by voice vote in the House on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. John Pastor (R) on June 9, 2004, to authorize $800,000 in Clean Michigan Initiative bond proceeds to perform a public health study in the Midland area related to the effects of past dioxin pollution there. This is a compromise worked out between Republican legislators and the governor after the Department of Environmental Quality proposed testing the soil on some 21,000 properties and 11,000 homes for the presence of dioxin, using a stringent standard that could require the soil to be removed from many homes and lots. See House Bill 5963. The amendment passed by voice vote in the House on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Rich Brown (D) on June 9, 2004, to restore a 15 percent cut to the compensation of the director of the Department of Environmental Quality, and strip out a $5.4 million cut in the department's operations funding. The amendment failed 46 to 56 in the House on June 9, 2004.
    Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Chris Kolb (D) on June 9, 2004, to strip out an eight percent cut in the number of personnel authorized by the budget for this department. The amendment failed 49 to 54 in the House on June 9, 2004.
    Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
  • Amendment offered by Rep. John Pastor (R) on June 9, 2004, to remove a requirement that the department must contract out environmental lab work, and allow but not require them to. The amendment passed by voice vote in the House on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. John Pastor (R) on June 9, 2004, to require the Department of Environmental Quality to complete a county-by-county inventory of wetlands as required by law, which would inform property owners in advance whether the state wetland permit law prohibits improvements that would have been allowed before the permit requirement was imposed. The amendment passed by voice vote in the House on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. David Farhat (R) on June 9, 2004, to add funding line items for environmental studies of two particular areas. The amendment passed by voice vote in the House on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. John Moolenaar (R) on June 9, 2004, to restore funding for the department's hazardous waste enforcement division, which was stripped out by the House Appropriations Committee due to a dispute between Republican legislators and the department after it proposed testing the soil on some 21,000 properties and 11,000 homes in the Midland and Saginaw area for the presence of dioxin, using a stringent standard that could require the soil to be removed from many homes and lots. See House Bill 5963. This amendment was the result of a compromise with the governor in which Clean Michigan Initiative bond proceeds will pay for a public health study related to the effects of past dioxin pollution there. The amendment passed by voice vote in the House on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Virgil Smith, Jr. (D) on June 9, 2004, to require, rather than allow, the department to file reports mandated by the legislature over the computer internet, and prohibit it from using an internal government-only intranet for the purpose. The amendment failed 44 to 59 in the House on June 9, 2004.
    Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
• Passed 60 to 44 in the House on June 9, 2004, the House version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 Department of Environmental Quality budget. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is Senate Bill 1039.) This appropriates $321.7 million in adjusted gross spending (funded from all sources, including special state restricted fund and federal pass-through dollars, minus interdepartmental transfers), compared to $332.2 million, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003. Of this, $31.6 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the FY 2003-2004 amount of $56.1 million. The House version authorizes approximately $4.6 million less gross spending than the governor recommended. However, the House version cuts General Fund money by $6.5 million, cuts total staff by eight percent, and cuts the director’s pay by 15 percent. Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge at www.mackinac.org/4964.
  Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
• Received in the Senate on June 10, 2004.
• Failed 0 to 37 in the Senate on June 15, 2004, to concur with a House-passed version of the bill. The vote sends the bill to a House-Senate conference committee to work out the differences.
  Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
• Received in the House on June 29, 2004.
• Passed 102 to 0 in the House on September 9, 2004, the House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 Department of Environmental Quality budget. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is Senate Bill 1039.) This appropriates $336.0 million in unadjusted gross spending, compared to $371.4 million, which was the final FY 2003-2004 amount. Of this, $31.6 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the final FY 2003-2004 amount of $53.5 million. The budget allocates no funds for new environmental cleanups, which accounts for most of the decline from the previous year's spending.
  Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
• Received in the Senate on June 30, 2004.
• Passed 33 to 1 in the Senate on September 9, 2004, the House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 Department of Environmental Quality budget. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is Senate Bill 1039.) This appropriates $336.0 million in unadjusted gross spending, compared to $371.4 million, which was the final FY 2003-2004 amount. Of this, $31.6 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the final FY 2003-2004 amount of $53.5 million. The budget allocates no funds for new environmental cleanups, which accounts for most of the decline from the previous year's spending.
  Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
• Signed with line-item veto by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on September 29, 2004.
• Received in the Senate on October 5, 2004.