Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Appropriations Chair Ann Bollin, R-Brighton Township, on Tuesday led the Michigan House in approving a responsible, balanced state budget plan for the 2025-26 fiscal year that reins in wasteful spending and makes historic investments in the priorities of Michigan families.

The omnibus budget totals $56.6 billion and covers most state departments outside of education. This follows the House’s approval earlier this year of a $21.9 billion School Aid budget that invests at record levels in Michigan classrooms. Together, the two budgets total $78.5 billion — a 3.7% reduction from the current year’s budget. The House’s budget is also 6% smaller than the governor’s 2025-26 spending plan, and 7.2% smaller than the Senate’s budget proposal.

The House’s plan fully funds roads, public safety, and key services without raising taxes — in sharp contrast to the Senate’s $84.5 billion proposal, which even Senate fiscal experts say does not balance. The Senate’s plan includes a $3 billion unfunded “placeholder” for roads, undercounts Medicaid caseloads by $1 billion, and ignores about $700 million in revenue loss Michigan expects to see as a result of tax cuts in the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“Our budget is built on honesty, transparency, and respect for taxpayers,” Bollin said.

“We went line by line through every department, identified more than $5 billion in waste, and redirected that money to fix our roads, keep our communities safe, strengthen education, and protect our most vulnerable.”

According to Bollin's office, examples of wasteful spending eliminated in the House budget include:

• Phantom employees. For the past several years, state departments have been receiving money each year for new positions they never fill. That money sits unused and becomes a slush fund for departmental directors. By cutting 4,300 phantom state jobs, the House budget freed up $560 million.

• Unspent work project money. Across state government, more than $6 billion in unused work project funds are sitting on the books. This is money the Legislature allocated years ago but departments squirreled away. Of that, $2.5 billion was unobligated, so the House budget redirects it to pay off debt from Gov. Whitmer’s road bonds.

• Failed programs. The SOAR corporate giveaway program has handed out billions with little return for Michigan families. The House budget eliminates funding for SOAR as well as the statewide EV charging program, which has not produced a single charger despite receiving $30 million in previous budgets.

By cutting this waste, Bollin said the House’s budget was able to prioritize funding for programs that matter most to Michigan families, including:

• Providing $3.4 billion in new, ongoing funding to fix local roads without raising taxes. The House’s plan is expected to create 20,000 new jobs and give communities the resources they need to finally fix potholes and repair crumbling infrastructure.

• Establishing the House’s Public Safety Trust Fund and investing $115 million to help communities fight violent crime and keep families safe.

• Delivering tax relief for working families and seniors by implementing tax cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill at the state level, eliminating state taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security income.

• Offering a new research and development tax credit to encourage investment, innovation, and job creation in Michigan.

The House budget also makes important reforms in health and human services to ensure support is available for those who truly need it.

Michigan’s Medicaid program has been paying for expensive name-brand prescriptions even when less costly generics are available, a perk that has been costing taxpayers an additional $125 million to $175 million a year, according to the House Fiscal Agency. The House budget reins in excesses like these and ensures taxpayer dollars are used responsibly. It also cracks down on food stamp fraud by requiring the department to use chip-enabled cards and take other steps to lower Michigan’s error rate, which is among the worst in the nation.

“Even with these reforms, funding for these programs continues to grow,” Bollin said. “We are committed to protecting services for our most vulnerable people, and our budget ensures that benefits remain available for those who truly need them.”

Bollin also focused on restoring accountability and transparency in the budget process.

Every direct grant awarded in the House budget received a public hearing, and the House conducted over 30 hours of testimony before decisions were made. In the past, earmarks were often thrown in at the last minute with no opportunity for public scrutiny.

The House budget also brings back performance dashboards so the public can see how state departments are doing, requires public reports on severance pay awarded to state employees, and establishes new reporting on work projects.

“For the last two years, the Legislature has passed bloated budgets full of gimmicks and one-time giveaways,” Bollin said. “This year, I focused on restoring trust in the process. We’ve proven you can pass a balanced budget that respects taxpayers, delivers results, and invests in the things families care about most, all without raising taxes.”

House Bill 4706, sponsored by Bollin, contains the House’s omnibus budget. The measure passed the House today with bipartisan support. The chamber’s education budget, House Bill 4577, passed the House in June.

Negotiations between the House, Senate and governor over the final state budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 are ongoing.