LANSING ? Michigan House Republicans have decided to embark on budget method seldom, if ever, employed by the Legislature: grouping almost all the disparate portions of state government into one spending bill for the 2005-06 fiscal year.

The only portions of state government at this time expected not to be included in the so-called omnibus bill are the higher education budget for the state’s 15 public universities and funding for K-12 public schools.

House Republican members of the Appropriations Committee met privately for about six hours Thursday as leaders discussed their tentative plans for each department and major budget area’s funding. They have agreed, as Republicans have stated was their plan, to propose budgets without any of Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm’s proposed new revenues to prop up spending.

Republicans say that means they must put together a budget with about $350 million less in spending than Granholm proposed.

Top House Republicans have given chairs of the Appropriations subcommittees soft figures of how much money they have to build their budgets. Subcommittee chairs interviewed Friday declined to release those figures because they are not final, and Rep. Scott Hummel (R-DeWitt), the Appropriations chair, was out of town and unavailable for comment, according to his office.

But several of those Republicans interviewed confirmed that an omnibus spending bill will be used. Traditionally, most departments have their own budget bill (several of the administrative departments, the Legislature and Executive Office are compiled into the general government budget) while each major budget area like higher education, community colleges and K-12 public schools also receive their own bill.

Hummel has said in the past that the omnibus bill would allow Republicans to reorder spending priorities in line with the “results” the House GOP decided it wanted from government. Mr. Hummel had preferred to create nine bills with each bill containing the spending items that contribute to each result, but logistics proved too difficult. And with an omnibus bill, the House and Senate – which is using the traditional budgeting route – can more easily compare their budget plans than if the House used result-based budget bills.

Critics of the omnibus approach say it makes it difficult to scrutinize proposed spending for each program given the massive size of the document. It also sets up the potential for an amendment free-for-all as lawmakers could propose an amendment on any aspect of the budget contained within the bill.

“We’re being told an omnibus bill,” said Rep. Dan Acciavatti (R-New Baltimore), chair of the general government subcommittee.

Rep. Glenn Steil Jr. (R-Cascade), chair of the judiciary subcommittee, characterized Thursday’s meeting as an opportunity for subcommittee chairs to inform all Republican committee members of where they would like to take their respective piece of the budget.

“The discussion is, ‘Do you have a problem with that? Are there areas of concern?'” he said.

Of the omnibus bill, which only further cements that subcommittees will not cast votes this year on the budget in a break with tradition, Steil said it would be a better process. There is no need for subcommittee votes, and every budget has plenty of detail to study anyway, he said.

Acciavatti said he anticipates no reductions in discretionary revenue sharing aid to local governments. And he said the departments in the general government budget would be cut “very slightly” with an average reduction about less than 1 percent.

Rep. Rick Shaffer (R-Three Rivers), chair of the Department of Human Services subcommittee, said his subcommittee “didn’t quite reach our goals” in finding enough reductions for the department. He declined to say the tentative funding figure for the department that he was given, but said he might look to use revenue freed up from other budgets to pay for programs in Human Services.

“I’m hoping that we don’t dramatically have to hurt our vulnerables,” he said.

A message left with Rep. Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing, the top Appropriations Committee Democrat, was not immediately returned Friday afternoon.

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