Bad News/Good News in Michigan’s budget wars

October 1st was the beginning of the 2020 fiscal year in Michigan, which meant that at least 16 different budget bills had to be approved to avoid a government shutdown. The intransigence of the legislature and the Governor’s office in finding a way to iron out entrenched differences was resolved by Governor Whitmer. She used the line item veto to achieve a balanced budget and a maneuver used by former Governor John Engler in the 1990’s to shift money around within departments. Governor Whitmer issued 147 line item vetoes totaling $947 million as a way to restart negotiations with the Republican legislature.

According to an email from DDAdvocates of Western Michigan,

“The bad news is that our Governor has vetoed $1 Billion in budget items. The good news is that Sec 298 was one of the items in the $80 Million MDHHS budget cuts. Presumably, a period of negotiations with the Legislature will commence; this is an opportunity to communicate with your Legislators about the need to delete the 298 funding permanently.”

“Section 298” has been a controversial section of state law that promotes the privatization of community mental health behavioral services, including the social services that allow people with disabilities to live safely in community settings. Medicaid funding that is now administered by local Community Mental Health agencies would be handed over to Medicaid Health Plans that manage the medical side of Medicaid but have little experience in providing residential and other services needed by people with disabilities.

I assume that all local and regional newspapers will be covering this in detail. Here is a summary of the main issues from "Bridge, Michigan's non-partisan, nonprofit news source".