• Governor Whitmer Delivers Her State of the State Address
• House Education and Workforce Committee Moves CTE Millage
• Court Issues Ruling on Bills Not Presented to Governor

Governor Whitmer Delivers Her State of the State Address

On Wednesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivered her 7th State of the State address.  The address began by highlighting the state's achievements over the past years, including the significant increase in the rainy-day fund which provides a crucial buffer against economic downturns, paying down state debt, providing free school meals, and expanding preschool access to all four-year-olds.

Looking ahead, Governor Whitmer outlined her priorities for the coming year, focusing on easing the burden of costs for families, fostering job growth, increasing wages across the state, and streamlining permitting and licensure processes. We also expect to see legislation on cell phone use in schools, increased transparency in education and an increase in support for CTE programs.

Yesterday, MASB held a Views From the Capitol Webinar to talk about the address, what could be next for education, and some of the budget priorities.  If you missed it, you can view it on our YouTube channel.

You can also read the full text of the address on the Governor’s website or can watch on it her YouTube channel. 

House Education and Workforce Committee Moves CTE Millage

On Wednesday, the House Education and Workforce Committee approved House Bill 4060 which modifies the requirements of taxes levied for career and technical education programs.  It would allow an intermediate school district to use the CTE millage to contract with another intermediate school district for career and technical education programs. This would give more flexibility for ISDs to offer programming to their districts.  

 MASB supports the bill, and it now goes to the full House for consideration.

Court Issues Ruling on Bills Not Presented to Governor

On Thursday, Judge Sima Patel of the Court of Claims ruled that there is a constitutional right to have bills passed by both chambers presented to the Governor. The Senate had sued the House to have the final nine bills passed during Lame Duck presented to the Governor. These bills included House Bill 6058 which made broad changes to the health care insurance cost law. 

However, the ruling also says that the court will not compel Speaker Hall to present the bills stating, “Michigan courts have declined to interpret and enforce internal rules of the Legislature in the past, and the court finds good reason to follow such precedent here”. 

At this time, both the House and the Senate see victory in the ruling and neither has noted if they will appeal. The Speaker also did not indicate that he would release the bills but did say in a statement, “I’ve been saying … the court could not force the House to present bills from a previous session”, and “We will include the judge’s ruling into our ongoing thorough legal review of this situation.”