GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer completed action on the state’s largest-ever budget Monday, nearly $82 billion, by putting her signature to the bill the Legislature passed in late June.
The bill the governor signed in Wyandotte included much of what she proposed in February. The Legislature, controlled by Democrats for the first time in decades, concurred with much of her spending requests and passed the budget before the somewhat recently initiated deadline of July 1.
Some of the biggest line items include Health and Human Services, which is always the largest expenditure, coming in at $35.7 billion, Transportation at $6.6 billion and Labor and Economic Opportunity at nearly $3 billion.
The governor touted the benefits of what she calls the “Make it in Michigan” budget saying that investment in job expansion and business attraction will help keep and bring good-paying jobs to the state and keep Michiganders here to pursue their careers.
“The ‘Make It In Michigan’ budget delivers on the issues that really matter most to Michigan’s working families and sets Michigan up for long-term success. This work will not be done in a couple of years, and we will not be done in five years. We’ve got to be on a trajectory and thanks to this budget, we are taking a major step forward,” she said.
The governor previously signed the School Aid Fund of $21.4 billion.