By Elena Durnbaugh
Gongwer News Service
The proposed House budgets for the Department of Corrections and the judiciary branch made significant cuts to funding for new programs, including community-based corrections, juvenile resentencing programs and the recently established drug courts, mental health courts and veterans’ courts.
Cuts are also proposed for the state’s case management system along with the Supreme Court in response to some of the court’s decisions under the budget bills moved by the House Appropriations Corrections and Judiciary Subcommittee.
The total budget for the Department of Corrections proposed by House Republicans in
HB 5599 was $2.1 billion ($2 billion General Fund). That represents a $41.5 million decrease from last year’s budget and is about $70,000 less than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recommendation.
The biggest cuts to the budget come from the House removing $14 million for community-based corrections plans and services. The other significant reduction is to the department’s IT services. As with nearly all other departments, the House cuts IT for corrections by 50%, which is a $15.3 million decrease.
The House makes funding reductions to unclassified salaries, equipment and special maintenance, executive direction, judicial data warehouse user fees, new custody staff training, prosecutorial and detainer expenses, skilled trades and career readiness programs, food technology probation residential services, parole board operations, correctional facilities administration, inmate legal services, Healthy Michigan Plan administration and Hepatitis C funding. In total, that would cut $6.3 million from the budget.
The House also eliminates 455.1 full-time equivalent employees from the department.
The lone Democrat on the committee, Rep. Amos O’Neal, D-Saginaw, objected to the cuts in staffing levels.
“We already know we're 900-plus short of staff in our institutions around the state of Michigan. We already know that there have been many episodes of violence and acts of violence toward staff with inmates because of the shortage of staff. We already know our employees are working overtime beyond measure and it’s stressing them out at every level,” O’Neal said. “So, I'm really concerned about that.”
The subcommittee chair, Rep. Bradley Slagh, R-Zeeland, said the budget still contained money for hiring.
“There’s in the neighborhood of 1,500 FTEs that are not filled at this point, so we’ve still got lots of room for hiring in the department,” he said. “These 455 are things that haven’t been filled in recent years, so we’re trying to pare back so we can move forward.”
O’Neal also raised concerns about the cuts to IT systems.
One area of increased spending the House proposed was $39.4 million toward deferred maintenance at correctional facilities. The House also includes about $1.9 million to automate the prisoner count and callout process.
The House boilerplate language includes a request for the department to reform its strip search protocol, so it results in fewer and less intrusive strip searches.
The total House-proposed judiciary budget provides $371.8 million ($264 million General Fund). That’s an $11.7 million ($12 million General Fund) decrease from last year’s budget and a $20 million reduction from the executive recommendation. There are no reductions in FTEs included in the judiciary budget.
One of the biggest reductions is funding for the Michigan Supreme Court. The House proposal cuts funding to the court by $7.5 million, citing the court’s proposed amendment to Michigan Court Rule 8.115, which would prevent federal immigration laws from being enforced in state courthouses and due to the court’s ruling that requires resentencing hearings for people who were sentenced to life without parole for crimes they committed at ages 19 and 20.
The current fiscal year budget provides $16 million for the court.
The House also did not include any funding for the community dispute resolution program or for juvenile lifer resentencing hearings.
O’Neal said the cuts seemed like they were intended to punish the court for its decisions.
The House budget also reduces funding for the statewide case management system by $6.9 million. The executive recommendation increased funding by $2 million and added 22 FTE positions to support and maintain the system. The House does not include any new FTEs.
Another significant change from the executive recommendation is that the House did not include any funding in its proposal for drug treatment courts, mental health courts or veterans’ courts. The governor included $250,000 General Fund to support higher than anticipated costs for the newly established programs.
“Above all these cuts, there seems to be a pattern … of penalizing Michigan’s poor and the attorneys who are trying to help them,” O’Neal said. “I’m very concerned about the cuts in this budget.”
Slagh said cuts were necessary, and when courts made their rulings, they potentially did not consider there would be an increased cost burden. The overall reduction in spending for the judiciary branch proposed by the House is 3%, and Slagh said that is in line with how much less revenue the state is expecting for the year.
“I know that doesn't satisfy, honestly,” Slagh told O’Neal. “I understand that that doesn't satisfy what you're concerned about, but it is, it is where I'm at, at the moment.”
HB 5608 was reported to the full House Appropriations Committee, with O’Neal as the lone no vote.
Gongwer News Service
The proposed House budgets for the Department of Corrections and the judiciary branch made significant cuts to funding for new programs, including community-based corrections, juvenile resentencing programs and the recently established drug courts, mental health courts and veterans’ courts.
Cuts are also proposed for the state’s case management system along with the Supreme Court in response to some of the court’s decisions under the budget bills moved by the House Appropriations Corrections and Judiciary Subcommittee.
The total budget for the Department of Corrections proposed by House Republicans in
HB 5599 was $2.1 billion ($2 billion General Fund). That represents a $41.5 million decrease from last year’s budget and is about $70,000 less than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recommendation.
The biggest cuts to the budget come from the House removing $14 million for community-based corrections plans and services. The other significant reduction is to the department’s IT services. As with nearly all other departments, the House cuts IT for corrections by 50%, which is a $15.3 million decrease.
The House makes funding reductions to unclassified salaries, equipment and special maintenance, executive direction, judicial data warehouse user fees, new custody staff training, prosecutorial and detainer expenses, skilled trades and career readiness programs, food technology probation residential services, parole board operations, correctional facilities administration, inmate legal services, Healthy Michigan Plan administration and Hepatitis C funding. In total, that would cut $6.3 million from the budget.
The House also eliminates 455.1 full-time equivalent employees from the department.
The lone Democrat on the committee, Rep. Amos O’Neal, D-Saginaw, objected to the cuts in staffing levels.
“We already know we're 900-plus short of staff in our institutions around the state of Michigan. We already know that there have been many episodes of violence and acts of violence toward staff with inmates because of the shortage of staff. We already know our employees are working overtime beyond measure and it’s stressing them out at every level,” O’Neal said. “So, I'm really concerned about that.”
The subcommittee chair, Rep. Bradley Slagh, R-Zeeland, said the budget still contained money for hiring.
“There’s in the neighborhood of 1,500 FTEs that are not filled at this point, so we’ve still got lots of room for hiring in the department,” he said. “These 455 are things that haven’t been filled in recent years, so we’re trying to pare back so we can move forward.”
O’Neal also raised concerns about the cuts to IT systems.
One area of increased spending the House proposed was $39.4 million toward deferred maintenance at correctional facilities. The House also includes about $1.9 million to automate the prisoner count and callout process.
The House boilerplate language includes a request for the department to reform its strip search protocol, so it results in fewer and less intrusive strip searches.
The total House-proposed judiciary budget provides $371.8 million ($264 million General Fund). That’s an $11.7 million ($12 million General Fund) decrease from last year’s budget and a $20 million reduction from the executive recommendation. There are no reductions in FTEs included in the judiciary budget.
One of the biggest reductions is funding for the Michigan Supreme Court. The House proposal cuts funding to the court by $7.5 million, citing the court’s proposed amendment to Michigan Court Rule 8.115, which would prevent federal immigration laws from being enforced in state courthouses and due to the court’s ruling that requires resentencing hearings for people who were sentenced to life without parole for crimes they committed at ages 19 and 20.
The current fiscal year budget provides $16 million for the court.
The House also did not include any funding for the community dispute resolution program or for juvenile lifer resentencing hearings.
O’Neal said the cuts seemed like they were intended to punish the court for its decisions.
The House budget also reduces funding for the statewide case management system by $6.9 million. The executive recommendation increased funding by $2 million and added 22 FTE positions to support and maintain the system. The House does not include any new FTEs.
Another significant change from the executive recommendation is that the House did not include any funding in its proposal for drug treatment courts, mental health courts or veterans’ courts. The governor included $250,000 General Fund to support higher than anticipated costs for the newly established programs.
“Above all these cuts, there seems to be a pattern … of penalizing Michigan’s poor and the attorneys who are trying to help them,” O’Neal said. “I’m very concerned about the cuts in this budget.”
Slagh said cuts were necessary, and when courts made their rulings, they potentially did not consider there would be an increased cost burden. The overall reduction in spending for the judiciary branch proposed by the House is 3%, and Slagh said that is in line with how much less revenue the state is expecting for the year.
“I know that doesn't satisfy, honestly,” Slagh told O’Neal. “I understand that that doesn't satisfy what you're concerned about, but it is, it is where I'm at, at the moment.”
HB 5608 was reported to the full House Appropriations Committee, with O’Neal as the lone no vote.
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