When Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivers her State of the State address on Wednesday night, we’ll learn about some of her legislative and spending priorities for the next state budget.
One of the key players in the budgeting process is Democratic state Senator Sarah Anthony who represents Michigan’s 21st Senate District, which includes parts of Lansing and other communities. Anthony also serves as the chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
Morning Edition host Doug Tribou visited Anthony at the state Capitol to talk about the budget and more.
Doug Tribou: The Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference released some new revenue estimates for the state earlier this month, and the numbers were up over the estimates from May, but they still project a 0.9% decrease in state revenues. And that in turn affects state government spending. What's your read on those projections, and are there any causes for concern there?
Senator Sarah Anthony: These numbers weren't surprising to us. We have been planning for a while to have some slight increases and decreases in our revenue. You're right. The Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference numbers were not the numbers that we saw last year, in which we had some historic investments from the federal government that allowed us to invest in many one-time programs and initiatives.
So we are not nervous or concerned, but the investments that we made, particularly in our budget stabilization fund over the last few years, has helped us make sure that when the pendulum swings, that we're in a good position as a state.
"I'm a millennial, and I'm tired of seeing the people who are 30, 20 years old leaving our state."Michigan Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony says attracting people back to the state is a priority for the new state budget.
DT: And that's the what would be commonly called the Rainy Day Fund. Is that right?
SA: That's right.
DT: Governor Whitmer will deliver her State of the State address on Wednesday. What areas would you like to see prioritized in the 2024-25 state budget?
SA: We have heard loud and clear that while folks are excited about the big investments — big supports for industry, corporation and businesses — we need to have a people-focused agenda that insists on making sure that we're lifting people up from poverty, making sure that we're growing our middle class.
I'm a millennial, and I'm tired of seeing the people who are 30, 20 years old leaving our state. And so I'm looking forward to an agenda that we can create with the governor's team, that we're actually attracting people back to our state, and also investing in the people who choose to live here.
DT: How much of that attraction and luring people and industries revolves around making some of Michigan's cities attractive places for new industry beyond legacy industries? So Detroit, Flint, Lansing — how much of that do you think involves spending and work looking beyond the auto industry, for example?
SA: That's right. I mean, vibrant cities (are) key to attracting people. When we have talked to people across the state from some of these urban cores — you mentioned Detroit. obviously, my love is here in Lansing, Grand Rapids — people want good transportation, great infrastructure, and strong school systems. Right? As many industries we've tried to attract here, those are the questions they're asking. Not necessarily always about the tax breaks and the incentives that they can get.
"One of my top goals is to fight for a pre-K through 14 education system. High school diplomas just aren't enough anymore."Michigan Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony
DT: As you mentioned, Michigan saw a lot of federal dollars come in from COVID-19 relief funding and from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. With that wave of federal dollars ending, how does it change your work on planning on the Appropriations Committee here in Michigan?
SA: The first budget, we planted a lot of seeds. Over the next few years, we're going to start to see the fruit. You think about things like broadband infrastructure, some of the funding for our roads and our bridges.
You know, we haven't had a construction season yet in which we will start to realize what those investments will look like. Our work as the Appropriations Committee is going to be monitoring the investments we made with all those federal dollars.
DT: The income tax rate last year was cut from 4.25 to 4.05 percent. That was triggered by law because of the state's surplus level. Some of your Republican colleagues are saying that the new revenue estimates show that the state can and should continue with a lower tax rate. What's your view of that idea?
SA: You know, we're still monitoring it. How we approach things last year I think was good. And working directly with the minority leader here in the Senate, as well as my Republican Appropriations Vice Chair, we're going to work through those details, but ultimately, we just have to do what's right for the people.
DT: But do you favor keeping it at 4.05 or 4.25?
SA: You know, I think ultimately people want predictability. Even when we've looked at some of the data, whether it's from corporations or from individuals, people want stability. They want to be able to predict what things will look like. So that's what my big charge is.
DT: I don't want to put words in his mouth, but I think that [Republican Senate Minority Leader] Aric Nesbitt might say he wants predictability and the predictable number to be lower.
SA: [Laughs] I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure.
Anthony became the chair of the powerful Michigan Senate Appropriations Committee in 2023. She is the first Black woman to lead the committee.
DT: [Laughs] I've lived in Michigan for about eight years, and as long as I've been here, there's been this call like, we need to make Michigan a top ten education state. But that just simply hasn't really shifted in any meaningful way. What do you see as the most critical needs in K-12 and college education in the state?
SA: One of my top goals is to fight for a pre-K through 14 education system. High school diplomas just aren't enough anymore. We have very siloed ways in which we fund education, in which we prioritize young people's paths to and through high school and to and through college. It doesn't work.
Even in my district, the way that you can walk into a school building in Lansing and then walk into a school building in one of our suburban communities is a tragedy. Our infrastructure is terrible in many of our schools. And these kids deserve an equal education. And when you disaggregate by race and by gender, it is criminal. But I think there are some things we can be doing, even within our budget process, to actually close some of those gaps.
DT: I want to ask you about the pre-K to 14. So is that a system that would be running through the traditional grade 12, but then also including associate degree programs rolled into the flow of education?
SA: There's so many models that can deal with it, but I think young people are only ready to go into the world when they have a certificate or an associate's degree. And so that could look like universal community college.
DT: What does the financing for something like that look like? And that would be a seismic shift. How would you approach that?
SA: Our fiscal analysts are starting to think of different ways that we can maybe approach that. Whether it's through school aid, looking at our community college systems. One thing that we hear a lot about from people who don't have a community college system in their community, what would they do? Right? We think about barriers such as housing for students.
We still have not spent down all the federal dollars. And when we're looking at, again, generational change, maybe that's a place that we need to be investing. Again, some of that is one-time funding. Some of it is a structural overhaul of our education funding system.
DT: Senator, thanks a lot for your time this morning.
SA: Thank you. It was fun.
