Michigan may not close the books on its last budget in time for an end-of-the-month statutory deadline.
On Thursday, Democratic House lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to push Senate-passed book closing bills out of committee and onto the full floor for a vote. Meanwhile, the Senate left for spring break this week without taking up a House plan.
That Republican-supported plan in the House would have tied the book-closing to a measure to fund parts of government in case a new budget doesn’t get passed in time.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) said the book-closing is still important but may not be top of mind for lawmakers.
“If folks aren't willing to start moving things forward, we have to start moving forward on other things that we have to get done, like the FY26 budget, trying to find a pathway for a roads deal to come forward,” Anthony said Wednesday, referring to the budget for the coming 2026 fiscal year.
State law says the budget director is supposed to issue a full accounting report by the end of the month. An open budget could complicate that.
Despite the looming deadline, Anthony’s Republican House counterpart seemed to share a similar outlook on the impasse between the chambers.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton Twp.) said Thursday that while she’d like to see the books closed by March 31, there’s no need to harp on the matter if the chambers can’t agree right now, despite concerns it could hurt the state's ability to get loans.
“I don’t think it’s going to harm us the way it’s been stated that it will as far as credit rating and bonds so we can’t take on more debt. I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Bollin said.
Bollin said she’s confident the books will still be closed before the state passes its next budget. She mentioned she still felt communication with the Senate has been productive.
“They're friendly,” Bollin said. “I think we all want to get to the same end. It's just, we have different path. I think that we're a team. We have very much a shared vision,” she said.
