For state workers, budget could be worse

Justin A. Hinkley
Lansing State Journal
The Capitol building in Lansing.

LANSING – New corrections officers, Michigan State Police troopers and Department of Natural Resources law enforcement officers will be trained. 

Acute-care staff will be added to state psychiatric hospitals and there will be some major technology upgrades. 

All in all, the 2018 state budget finalized by the Legislature on Thursday could have been worse for state employees, some 14,000 of whom live and work in Greater Lansing. Gov. Rick Snyder now must sign the document; the budget year begins Oct. 1. 

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Lawmakers ultimately gave Snyder a total of $12.6 million less than he'd requested for some of the new staffing, technology and equipment that would directly affect state employees. But, earlier this year — before budget negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders over teacher retirement reforms and other matters — lawmakers were considering trimming Snyder's budget request by as much as $44 million. 

On many areas where lawmakers were earlier considering cuts, they ultimately agreed with the administration. Most notably, lawmakers backed off of a state Senate plan to deny Snyder's $4.4 million request for new corrections officers, which administration officials said would make prisons dangerous. Lawmakers did cut $6.5 million in prison spending, which will be covered by closing parts of five prisons. 

Pushed by the state Senate, where a former State Police commander heads the State Police spending committee, lawmakers actually gave Snyder enough money to train 50 more troopers than he'd asked for. 

But lawmakers did deny Snyder millions of dollars, most of it in technology matters. They approved about half of what he asked for to implement changes to the state's lead and copper rule that sprang from the Flint water crisis. They halved what Snyder sought for "citizen-centric" technology initiatives and outright denied his request for new money to develop more state mobile applications. 

But lawmakers did gave Snyder millions for tech upgrades, including an overhaul of the state's budgeting system, new cybersecurity initiatives, and more. 

Contact Justin A. Hinkley at (517) 377-1195 or jhinkley@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley. Sign up for his email newsletter, SoM Weekly, at on.lsj.com/somsignup