LANSING – Governor Jennifer Granholm has signed the last of the 2008-09 budget bills, giving her approval to the Department of Transportation $3.9 billion spending plan that had been held up over a contentious dispute regarding a new crossing to Canada over the Detroit River. The move came just days before the start of the new fiscal year and averted a shutdown of road projects that would have been ordered had the stalemate over the bridge continued.
The bill (HB 5808 , PA 275) allows the state to continue a study of a crossing that would be built with public resources and backing, but requires the Legislature to approve any steps that could lead to actual construction. That includes creating a public-private partnership, authority to set and collect tolls, and a provision that would create a governing structure for the bridge.
As she has in the past, the governor used her line-item veto powers to strike a provision requiring the Department of Treasury to allocate costs of its time and effort to collect fuel tax revenues for the department.
The governor also signed a bare-bones $97 million capital outlay bill SB 511 (PA 278), using only earmarked funds, that contains placeholders for several potential higher education building projects and a supplemental spending bill (SB 1111 , PA 279), whose biggest dollar amount provides for a shift in funds to maximize the use of federal welfare grant funds. It’s provisions for the upcoming year include restoration of $10.2 million in funds that had been vetoed in the Department of Agriculture budget earlier in the year for horse racing programs.
Overall, the bill cuts $50.2 million in general fund spending for the 2007-08 year while increasing gross spending by $83.3 million, and adds $10.2 million in general funds for the 2008-09 year.
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