The House Appropriations Committee moved the bill to the full House chamber shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday. The House and Senate are expected to vote the spending plan through both chambers Thursday.
"These are tough times for families, small businesses, and communities, and this bipartisan supplemental will help grow our economy, create jobs, and invest in every region of our state," Whitmer said in a statement Wednesday. "I look forward to signing this supplemental when it reaches my desk and continuing in this spirit of collaboration to pass another balanced, bipartisan budget that delivers on the kitchen-table issues."
House Appropriations Chairman Thomas Albert, R- Lowell, said the federal funding made available to Michigan has given the state "unprecedented opportunity to make monumental improvements."
"We must take advantage of it and do it the right way," Albert said. "This plan will use one-time resources available today to benefit our children and grandchildren for the rest of their lives — which is extremely important given the potential ramifications of current federal policies in future years."
The massive supplemental approved 27-0 by the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday includes as its centerpiece nearly $2 billion to improve drinking water and water infrastructure. That money includes funds targeting lead line replacements in Benton Harbor and other communities as well as money to battle chemical contaminants called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS.
The spending plan is largely made of federal COVID relief and infrastructure cash with the exception of some state general fund dollars focused on dams and unemployment.
The legislation expands on a spending plan passed by the Senate in December that would have allocated about $3.3 billion toward water infrastructure.
The Legislature and Whitmer's office have spent months battling over the use of the state's remaining billions in general fund surplus, American Rescue Plan Act dollars and federal bipartisan infrastructure funds.
After the spending plan is enacted, about $2.7 billion in ARPA state fiscal recovery funds, those federal dollars the state has discretion over, will be left, according to the state Budget Office. The spending plan appropriates all of the federal highway funds available this year and leaves the current general fund balance at $2.1 billion, said Lauren Leeds, a spokeswoman for the state Budget Office.
Whitmer has proposed a record $74 billion budget plan for next year that includes senior tax cuts and increased exemptions for low-income earners.
While the Legislature has yet to propose its own annual spending plan, Wednesday's mid-year supplemental bill was negotiated with Whitmer before the Legislature next week begins a two-week spring break.
Albert indicated Wednesday that negotiations were at times held up by disagreements over the use of the one-time federal cash infusion, with Republicans advocating for one-time uses of the money.
"We didn't want to create new government positions," he said, adding that some added positions in the spending plan were term-limited. Albert said he was most proud of the funding put toward water infrastructure projects.
"I kind of look at it as, if the federal government is going to mortgage our children's future, let's at least provide this funding in a way that's going to offer them some type of return in the future," Albert said.
Under the legislation reported Wednesday, about $1 billion will go toward a wastewater, storm water and drinking water program, $35 million to failing septic systems and $50 million to "healthy hydration" in child care locations and schools.
Nearly $300 million will be invested in repairs at high-risk dams and flood recovery, with a majority of that, about $250 million, focused on the fallout of failed dams in Midland and Gladwin counties.
About $380 million will go toward roads and bridges, including freeway pump stations that were a cause of Metro Detroit flooding last summer. Another recreation and tourism spending item would give $250 million to state parks and recreation areas, and $200 million to local community parks.
About $88 million will go toward "legislatively authorized projects" or pork spending on items that include Monroe County road project, the Wayne County Airport Authority, freeway sound projects in Genesee and Oakland counties, the Capital Region Airport Authority and the Michigan International Technology Center.
The supplemental budget also includes about $500 million for rent and mortgage assistance, $322 million in local fiscal COVID relief, $100 million to develop "middle housing" options such as townhouses or duplexes and $50 million for home repairs.
Another $250 million will focus on expanding broadband access and $25 million to make natural gas and other low-carbon energy more readily available.
Currently, a separate supplemental is waiting in the Senate that will house about a $140 million appropriation to fight unemployment fraud and stabilize the unemployment insurance trust fund. That appropriation was part of the overall budget deal but is housed in a separate bill.
The deal between the governor and Legislature comes after months of disagreement over the possibility of using the state surplus to offset a tax cut, a debate that will continue even after Wednesday's agreement.
The Legislature has supported a gas tax suspension, income tax rate reductions, increased deductions for seniors and a child tax credit. Whitmer has thrown her support behind an increase to the Earned Income Tax Credit, a retirement tax repeal benefitting some seniors and the suspension of sales tax on gas.
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