The final House-Senate agreement on the 2011-2012 state government budget. A separate budget authorizes school, college and university spending (House Bill 4325). This one would appropriate $33.14 billion in gross spending for everything else, compared to $32.77 the previous year. Approximately $17.52 billion of this budget is federal money, leaving $15.63 billion raised from Michigan sources, compared to $14.48 billion the previous year.

Highlights include: Welfare, Medicaid and other social welfare spending total $21.13 billion (compared to $21.07 billion the previous year), $6.5 billion of which comes from state taxpayers, with the rest federal money. Some welfare benefits are trimmed, such as clothing subsidies. There is a $250 million cut in state revenue sharing to local governments, but $200 milllion is given back to locals that adopt employee benefit and other reforms. Rather than using the tax code to provide selective corporate tax breaks and subsidies, the budget instead appropriates subsidies of around $100 million (including “Pure Michigan” tourism industry subsidies). Prison spending is $1.94 billion, vs. $2.01 billion the previous year, and a small “boot camp” type alternative corrections facility would be privatized, but no regular prisons.