Michigan’s House Appropriations Committee chair is defending the choice to cancel around $645 million in unspent money from the last state budget.
If money set aside for a budget item doesn’t get spent in the fiscal year it's approved for, state officials can recommend the funding carries forward. It then becomes part of a budget category known as work projects.
Almost always, that money just goes through without a hassle. But Wednesday, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee used a rare move to block the funding for several projects. The state Management and Budget Act lets the committee end the funding unilaterally, without a vote of the Senate or a signature from the governor.
The decision caused outrage and confusion among lawmakers and funding recipients who had been counting on those state funds.
Speaking on WKAR’s Off the Record Friday, House Appropriations chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton) said reviewing old projects and blocking ones deemed wasteful simply amounts to effective budget oversight.
“Just because it’s never done before, doesn’t mean it’s not our responsibility to do that,” she said.
Bollin said while she hadn’t reached out to stakeholders to discuss the funding committee vote, it shouldn’t have come as a total surprise.
“Departments, when entering into these contracts, know it is a one-year appropriation, why would they not put people on notice?” Bollin said.
Dozens of projects lost funding, according to a list provided by the state Department of Technology, Management, and Budget. That ranges from for environmental initiatives to wigs for children with cancer.
Over 160 community-based projects alone lost around $100 million total. Those include zoos, stadiums, and places for winter sports. WDET Detroit Public Radio, a member of the Michigan Public Radio Network, also lost $1 million in grant funding.
Bollin said even though she might support some of the projects that had been targeted for funding, she questioned whether some of the overall spending was worth it, and why that money wasn’t spent.
One of the affected groups, Rx Kids, provides cash assistance to pregnant and new mothers in primarily low-income communities. It began in Flint but has been expanding into other areas, including Clare, the Eastern Upper Peninsula, and Roscommon County with bipartisan support from lawmakers.
Founder Dr. Mona Hanna said the program is doing the best it can to adjust to the lost money.
“Families were depending on this. Families were using this to make sure that they had diapers and formula and a roof over their head and paying for childcare,” Hanna said.
Regarding why so much of the original appropriation for Rx Kids was left on the balance sheet, Hanna said it took until this past summer to get a contract in place for the organization to start claiming its state funding.
“So, we were kind of fronting money for all of 2025 until we got that signed contract. And then the end of the fiscal year is the end of September. So that gave us a matter of three or four months to spend $20 million. That wasn’t possible,” Hanna said.
The most recent state budget included a $250 million spending item for Rx Kids that is meant to support it across the next few years. But Hanna said the group hasn’t been able to use that money yet.
“I'm hoping that it will be available soon. And we're hoping that that could kind of be the bridge, but that's not something that is in our hands right now,” Hanna said.
For the other projects that lost funding, Bollin said spending could be restored down the line with a future spending bill, although a day earlier, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) predicted heightened scrutiny would dissuade some programs from even requesting that their funding be restored.
