The Michigan Guarantee

Michigan will continue leading the future of advanced manufacturing by building a skilled workforce without leaving any person or place behind. We are helping accomplish this with what I?m calling the ?Michigan Guarantee".

It starts with pre-K. Last year, I proposed PreK for All by the end of 2026. In this budget, I propose getting it done 2 years ahead of schedule, saving parents $10,000 a year and giving every child a solid academic foundation.

Let?s go further by also offering every Michigan high school graduate the chance to earn an associate degree or receive skills training at a community college, tuition-free. This is a transformational opportunity for students, helping them save more than $4,000 a year and giving them a path to a better-paying, high-skill job in a career they love.

By ensuring a high-quality, public education from pre-K through postsecondary, we are setting Michigan up for success.

Mobilizing New Economic Development Tools

After you graduate with a degree or certificate, we want to make sure you can land a good-paying, in-demand job to sustain yourself and your family. With this budget, we will continue to pursue a suite of new economic development tools from our bipartisan toolkit so we can compete with other states and nations to bring supply chains home and create thousands of jobs.

These new tools include: the R&D Tax Credit, to spur innovation and lower costs for businesses; HIRE Michigan, to lower overall payroll taxes for small and second-stage businesses; and Renaissance Zones, to drive investment to areas that have too often been left out or left behind by lowering the cost of doing business.

We will also fire up our Innovation Fund by investing in high-growth start-ups so we can launch hundreds of new Michigan-based businesses and create thousands of jobs.

Investing in Workforce Development Programs

We are going to continue to fund programs to power workforce development, including Going Pro, talent action teams, and our Community and Worker Economic Transition Office. We must continue to develop the future of advanced manufacturing without leaving any person or place behind.

Supporting Rural Economies

Our inclusive economic agenda supports rural economies, too. The budget boosts funding for the Office of Rural Prosperity and creates a new Farm to Family program that supports regenerative farming, agriculture supply chains, and Michigan-made produce and products. We will also help small and disadvantaged businesses compete for state contracts, driving growth in underrepresented groups and regions.

Investing in Infrastructure

As we win projects and grow our economy, Michigan?s infrastructure has to keep up.

We?ve fixed 20,000 lane miles and 1,400 bridges since I took office, and this year will be the final year of the Rebuilding Michigan Plan. With the final $700 million bond, we?ll keep fixing our most economically critical roads and bridges.

To keep this momentum going, my budget proposes matching funds to draw in federal investments from President Biden?s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. If we make this strategic investment, we can bring home billions of our tax dollars to invest in Michigan?s infrastructure.

Taken together, this budget and the final bond could invest over $1 billion to fix the damn roads in FY25.

Michigan is committed to bringing supply chains home, creating good-paying jobs, and leading the future of advanced manufacturing.

Together, we will ensure that Michigan will keep competing and winning new investments and investing in our workforce so that anyone can 'Make it in Michigan?.?

Sincerely,

Gretchen Whitmer

Governor