Advocacy News – March 25, 2022
The Michigan House and Senate have sent two historic supplemental appropriations bills totaling $4.8 billion to Governor Whitmer’s desk for what appears to be a likely signature. The bills, which focus on funding for myriad issues, including stabilizing the unemployment trust fund and fighting fraud, expanding broadband access, improving water infrastructure and fixing roads and bridges, and more, received strong bipartisan support from both chambers of the Michigan Legislature.
Collectively, the bills appropriate approximately $3.9 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, another $945.4 million in federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds and $591.6 million in state General Fund dollars.
Here’s a round of up the key appropriations made:
House Bill 5525 is a $139.8 million appropriations bill. It includes:
- Deposit to the Employer-Financed Unemployment Trust Fund – The bill appropriates $100 million of the federally provided Coronavirus Relief Funds to stabilize the 100 percent employer-financed Unemployment Trust Fund. The Michigan Chamber has been strongly advocating for this appropriation to avoid a situation where employers are forced to eat the costs of the fraudulent and improper state unemployment benefits paid out over the course of the pandemics. In total, it is estimated the UIA paid more than $8 billion in fraudulent and improper state and federal unemployment insurance (UI) claims from March 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. While most of the fraudulent payments were from federal dollars, roughly $249 million of that amount came specifically from the State Unemployment Trust Fund. Last fall, the Michigan Chamber helped garner a $150M deposit to the State Unemployment Trust Fund to start addressing this issue. With this additional deposit, the State Unemployment Trust Fund is made whole, at least as it relates to fraud and abuse.
- Funding to Investigate Unemployment Fraud – The bill appropriates approximately $4.1 million to the Department of the Attorney General for the purposes of investigating and prosecuting unemployment fraud in Michigan. Additionally, the bill included almost $29 million for fraud enforcement within the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) and to improve customer service.
Senate Bill 565 is a $4.7 billion appropriations bill. It includes:
- Broadband Funding – The bill appropriates $250.6 million federal ARPA Capital Projects Funds to be used to provide competitive broadband infrastructure grants for the provision of broadband service in unserved areas. Up to 5% of funding would be required to be used to operate the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI) and to support operations of the office while the remaining federal grant funding would be available with no additional state resources required. The Michigan Chamber is pleased to see the bill establishes a grant-type program versus a government-owned model (versus a government-owned broadband network model). For a full analysis of our position, read HERE.
- Mobility Funding – The bill appropriates $25 million for the Mobility Futures Initiative to support the state’s efforts to grow the mobility workforce and industry and to develop and commercialize mobility technologies.
- Carbon Reduction Assistance for Businesses – The bill appropriates $25 million for grants to businesses, nonprofit organizations and local government units for planning, developing, designing, acquiring or constructing low carbon energy facilities, which could include natural gas facilities, combined heat and power facilities and electrification programs.
- Repair of Roads and Bridges – The bill appropriates $316 million in federal funds for the following: $237.5 million for state trunkline road and bridge capital construction programs and $79.2 million for local federal-aid road construction programs.
- Clean Water Appropriations – The bill appropriates the first two of five years’ worth of federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding to: support loans for wastewater infrastructure ($154.3 million) and drinking water infrastructure ($88.2 million); address emerging contaminants in storm water and wastewater ($8.1 million) and drinking water ($37.0 million); replace lead service lines ($138.8 million); and provide assistance to small and disadvantaged communities for drinking water infrastructure projects ($43.3 million).
- Dam Risk Reduction Appropriations – The bill appropriates $43.2 million for dam-related projects including $15.0 million for inspection and review of the May 2020 dam failure in Midland County and $28.2 million for dam risk reduction loans.
- Housing and Rental Assistance – The bill appropriates $121.4 million in federal funding for programs to protect housing for individuals and families struggling to maintain their housing. It also allocates $50 million in federal Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Funds for the Housing and Community Development Fund which is used to expand affordable housing for individuals disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, it appropriates $382.9 million in federal grant funding for emergency rental assistance to support low-income renters who have experienced significant financial hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic and are at risk of becoming homeless or of experiencing housing instability. This helps address a key barrier to employment.
Governor Whitmer has signaled she looks forward to signing the supplemental when it reaches her desk, along with “continuing the spirit of collaboration to pass another balanced, bipartisan budget that delivers on kitchen-table issues.”
Now that the supplemental budget negotiations are wrapped up, the Governor and Legislature will focus their attention on the state’s upcoming Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget and continue to negotiate how to spend Michigan’s remaining federal ARPA dollars.
Please contact Leah Robinson at lrobinson@michamber.com with questions.