Fiscal Archives - Almena Township GOP

HB 4437: 2024 Budget Omnibus Bill

admin — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 22:29:48 +0000

This is the annual omnibus spending bill which covers everything except education. It was a spending free-for-all this year with 65% of the $1.3 billion dollars spent being pork projects (earmarks). Most of those pork projects are being proposed last minute. Omnibus spending bills are used by legislators to hide their wasteful projects. Rather than up or down votes on given projects which require an open vote, the legislature waits until the last minute and dumps all of the spending into a single omnibus bill. It normally passes without anyone having read it. Both parties are guilty of gaming the system like this for their personal pork with no accountability.

Governor Whitmer cited revenue projections in her budget proposal expecting a $2.5 billion surplus. However, revenue projections are rarely correct. And the actual money coming into government coffers this year has sharply declined. And given the state of businesses in Michigan, it is only going to get worse.

Citizen’s Research Council article on this year’s pork.

Sen. Nesbitt voted no. But in a secret vote, he voted for immediate effect to help the Democrats spend their pork faster.

Wendzel voted no.

Bill passed and signed by governor.

B ill Details

Signed into law July 31, 2023: PA 119 of 2023

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SB 173/174 – K-12 “School Aid” annual budget. Sen. Nesbitt again helps Democrats in their spending spree by voting for immediate effect.

admin — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 22:14:17 +0000

After abandoning childhood education during and after Covid, Democrats produced a free-for-all spending budget full of pork programs that steal monies from direct education and put it into pet projects likes swimming pools, non-profit groups, and new buildings.

Per Gongwer:

“the first all-Democratic government in 40 years, combined with the previous Republican Legislature leaving billions in unspent one-time surplus revenues unused last year, produced an avalanche of spending on items like school pools, new school buildings, funds for career and technical centers and a slew of nonprofits doing work in the education space.”the first all-Democratic government in 40 years, combined with the previous Republican Legislature leaving billions in unspent one-time surplus revenues unused last year, produced an avalanche of spending on items like school pools, new school buildings, funds for career and technical centers and a slew of nonprofits doing work in the education space.

Some of the School Aid Fund surplus also went outside of K-12 for projects: $30 million was appropriated to Michigan State University for an engineering and digital innovation center, for example.

In total, a Gongwer News Service analysis of the education omnibus budget (SB 173) showed $335.4 million in School Aid Fund monies spent on 77 different earmarked items not generally designed to be available to most or all K-12 school districts. If those funds were placed into the foundation allowance, it would translate to another $241 per pupil.”

Nesbit voted no. But in a secret vote, again crossed lines to help Democrats in their spending spree, by voting for immediate effect.

Nesbitt voted no on SB174 supplemental bill.

Wendzel voted no.

B ill Details

Signed into law July 20, 2023: PA 103 of 2023

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SB 289 – Economic development: amending brownfield development law.

admin — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 23:38:12 +0000

This increases the amount of tax incentives and reimbursements for developers. And it allows unused housing to be declared as brownfield. This is a corporate welfare providing tax benefits to land developers. And more often than not, it is a means for developers to create higher end housing or commercial property at a discount, rather than the affordable housing as portrayed by its sponsors. And it is all at taxpayers’ expense.

Sen. Nesbitt voted no.

Wendzel voted yes.

Bill passed and signed by governor.

B ill Details

Signed by governor on July 18, 2023: PA 89 of 2023

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Aric Nesbitt assists Democrats in passing their bloated budget. Wendzel votes against.

admin — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 19:03:04 +0000

From the Michigan Conservative Coalition:

With just five bills, Michigan lawmakers shoveled out $2.9 billion (that’s $2,900,000,000) of your taxpayer money through cash handouts, grants and other giveaways to winners (and likely losers) picked by bureaucrats.

Senate Bill 7 gave away $946 million in one quick deal. That spending includes $200 million for a paper mill in Escanaba that will not even be asked to create a single new job.

Another of the five bills is House Bill 4001, which spent $1.65 billion of taxpayer dollars on business subsidies for the Ford’s proposed Marshall, MI EV battery plant (Ford’s partner in that plant is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP))!

Which Republicans like to vote with Democrats to fund CCP projects?

Here is that list: Representatives Phil Green (District 67 – Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola counties), Curt VanderWall (District 102 – Manistee, Muskegon and other counties), Kathy Schmaltz (District 46 – Jackson and Washtenaw counties). Oh, and our earlier friend Mike Mueller (District 72 – Oakland, Genesee and other counties) is back again.

The Mackinac Center has estimated that, even if the expected 2,500 jobs are actually created at the proposed Ford Marshall EV battery plant, each job will cost taxpayers $680,000—–that is per job.

What can go wrong with that?

The Senate bill could not have passed without the support of Senator Joe Bellino (R-Monroe) and Senator John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs), who openly supported the special interest deal. But the dirty work was here. The Bill also needed immediate effect to keep the cronies happy, On that vote, four more [senators] were needed. Those Senators were Kevin Daley (R-Lapeer), Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway Twp.), Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) and Roger Victory (R-Hudsonville).

“Immediate effect” requires a two-thirds vote. So those four loser Senators – Daley, Lauwers, Nesbitt, Victory – voted no on the recorded vote regarding the actual bill (when their votes weren’t needed), but then voted yes on the off-the-record vote regarding immediate effect, when their votes were needed.

In other words, these [senators] hope to fool their voters, by voting one way when the vote was on record, and then a different way when their vote was hidden from the record.

Update: At the Van Buren County GOP meeting, Sen. Nesbitt defended his actions by stating they were going to spend the money anyway. He left out the fact that immediate effect allowed the Chinese Communist Party to put their battery factory in Michigan.

Sen. Nesbitt voted no on the final bill. But in a secret vote, assisted the Democrats in giving the spending spree immediate effect.

Rep. Wendzel voted no.

Bill Details

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