Governor Whitmer Header
Dear Friend,
I’m excited to share that yesterday, our legislature passed the fifth balanced, bipartisan state budget during my time as Governor.
The Fiscal Year 2024 budget is focused on growing the economy, lowering costs, delivering on kitchen-table issues, and helping anyone “Make it in Michigan.”
It lowers costs on health care, preschool, meals for kids, higher education, housing, and workforce training. It will help us keep fixing the damn bridges, replacing lead pipes, and protecting public safety. And it will power 'Make it in Michigan', our comprehensive vision for economic development so we can win more projects, invest in people, and revitalize places.
It’s also fiscally responsible, raising the state’s rainy day fund to an all-time high of $2 billion by the end of 2024, setting aside $450 million in a new rainy day fund for schools, and paying down more debt, bringing the total debt paid down since I took office to $18.1 billion.
Let’s dig into how the budget will deliver for you!
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K-12 EDUCATION
*Makes record investments*
* Increases per-student investment to an all-time high of $9,608, up 22% since I took office. That means the biggest investment in your kid, your grandkid, or your loved one in Michigan history.
* Delivers free breakfast and lunch to all 1.4 million students, saving families over $850 a year.
* Expands free pre-K for up to 5,600 kids, working towards Pre-K for All by the end of my second term, saving families $10,000 a year.
* Makes record investments in literacy, tutoring, before- and after-school programs, mental health, and school safety.
* Bolsters educator recruitment and retention, and lowers the cost of becoming a teacher in Michigan by thousands.
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WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
*Lowers costs for college and skills training*
* Additional resources for vocational and career and technical education.
* Temporarily lowers age for Michigan Reconnect from 25 to 21, expanding eligibility to 350,000 more Michiganders to get an associate’s degree or skills training certificate tuition-free.
* Continues funding for the Michigan Achievement Scholarship that starts this fall to lower the cost of community, private, or public college by thousands for 80% of students and help 65% attend tuition-free when combined with federal aid.
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HEALTH CARE
*Lowers costs and improves outcomes*
* Expands Healthy Moms Healthy Babies, offering support for new and expecting moms.
* Raises wages for workers assisting seniors and those with disabilities in long-term care facilities.
* Improves access to essential health services under Medicaid.
* Funds Plan First!, offering essential care to 25,000 people, saving them $2,000 a year.
* Implements recommendations to reduce health disparities.
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PUBLIC SAFETY
* Keeps communities safe *
* Funds $400 million for public safety, totaling $1.5 billion since taking office.
* Delivers record levels of dedicated resources to hire, train, and retain local first responders.
* Implements gun violence prevention policies, and funds programs and services to tackle root causes of crime and reduce recidivism.
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INFRASTRUCTURE
*Continues fixing the damn roads and beyond*
* Includes $416 million to fix the damn roads and build up all kinds of public infrastructure, improving quality of life.
* Provides resources to draw down federal funds to expand transit, rail, and marine infrastructure.
* Supports bridge bundling, adding on to the 1,400 bridges fixed since I took office.
* Invests in Michigan’s clean energy and electric vehicle infrastructure.
* Builds more housing and backs more community revitalization projects.
* Continues replacing lead service lines and protects access to safe drinking water.
* Streamlines permitting and upgrades IT systems to get all kinds of projects done faster.
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
*Makes long-term investments for Michigan’s future *
* Funds the bipartisan Make it in Michigan Fund to win projects creating thousands of manufacturing jobs and bringing supply chains home to Michigan.
* Establishes Make it in Michigan Competitiveness Fund to secure incoming federal resources to build more manufacturing facilities, boost clean energy production, rebuild infrastructure, and make the technology of the future.
* Boosts revenue sharing for local governments so they can improve quality of life for residents.
* Builds on the over $1.5 billion (4th highest in the nation) Michigan will receive through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to expand high-speed internet access to over 200,000 Michiganders in unserved and underserved areas across the state.
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This budget will help anyone ‘Make it in Michigan’ by powering the state’s growing economy, delivering on issues that matter most to working families, and making strategic, long-term investments.
Let’s keep our foot on the accelerator!
Sincerely,
G signature
Gretchen Whitmer
Governor
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