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Governor Gretchen Whitmer has scheduled several meetings of the state Administrative Board, as negotiations to end the state’s budget crisis continue.
Whitmer vetoed nearly a billion dollars in line items included in the 2019-2020 budget passed by the Republican-controlled legislature a month ago. She also used the Ad Board to rearrange department budgets to the tune of more than $600 million.
The cuts included money for rural hospitals, small school districts, autism programs, and local sheriff’s road patrols.
Whitmer says she wants to move forward with negotiations to restore at least some of that funding before the legislature takes its traditional November deer-hunting recess.
Republicans are demanding that the Ad Board either be stripped of its power to transfer funds, or that a cap be placed on how much money it can move.
Whitmer says she won’t agree to that, but will agree to rescind some of the transfers, and not use the ad board to adjust any allocations that come out of good faith negotiations.
