MW: Senate subcommittee passes out DEQ budget with more cuts and without funding for the wetland program

[TJ Patrick]

Enough is enough. The Senate approps subcommitte passed out 10% more
in straight cuts to the DEQ budget and no money for the wetland
program. (See articles below that were posted to the Michigan
Wetlands group.) The state budget situation is terrible, but as you
all should know, funding for environmental protection has been
disproportionally hit under this administration and legislature and
the DEQ is struggling to keep its programs functioning.

It appears that the business community is already being heard. The
next couple of weeks are critical for environmental groups to speak up
to keep the Wetland Protection statute and funding for the wetland
program, and to stop additional cuts to the DEQ and environmental
protection in Michigan.

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 10:33 PM, spotted
salamander<spotteds...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Gongwar has had two articles on the subject (parts included below).
> Note that Senator Garcia (R) does not seem motivated yet to keep strong
> wetland protection in Michigan.
>
> June 10, 2009
>
> D.E.Q. BUDGET TO SEE MORE CUTS
>
> The budget for the Department of Environmental Quality will be ready
> to move to the full Senate Appropriations Committee, but considerably
> lighter than originally introduced, subcommittee chair Sen. Valde
> Garcia (R-Howell) announced before adjourning the brief meeting until
> early Thursday.
>
> Mr. Garcia declined to give details of the budget, acknowledging some
> decisions were yet to be made, but he also said the discussions over
> the budget would continue after the subcommittee acts.
>
> "The bill will have significant additional cuts for the purpose of
> getting to conference committee," he said.   "So whatever comes out of
> committee tomorrow will not be the final discussion."
>
> He also committed to further discussions over the wetlands program,
> which he said would be no more than a $100 placeholder in the bill to
> move Thursday.
>
> "But I've got to make significant cuts," he said.   "I'm not sure I
> can save the wetlands program."
>
> The DEQ budget in HB 4439 technically hasn't come out of the House
> yet, but the Senate subcommittee could use some other type of vehicle
> bill to move the appropriation.
>
> June 11, 2009
>
> SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE APPROVES STRAIGHT CUT FOR D.E.Q.
>
> The Senate Appropriations Environmental Quality Subcommittee approved
> its version of the department's budget Thursday, but more to keep
> discussions moving than to show the direction the chamber intends to
> go.
>
> The bill (SB 244) includes a $6 million across-the-board general fund
> cut, representing 18 percent of that funding source for the
> department, said subcommittee chair Sen. Valde Garcia (R-Howell).
>
> But he said the sole purpose of the bill was to get points of
> difference into conference committee.   Mr. Garcia is scheduled for
> military training the next two weeks and will not be available for
> discussions.
>
> The contents of the Senate bill will be substituted into HB 4439 when
> that budget comes over from the House and then be sent to conference
> committee, he said.
>
> He said fee changes, and other changes to the budget, could also come
> from discussions going on between the department and the business
> community.
>
> Sen. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) argued those discussions should be
> broader than just business groups, but Mr. Garcia said the discussions
> were with the groups that would be paying the fees.
>
> Ms. Brater voted against the budget in part because there was not an
> actual bill before the committee (the analyst for the committee had
> not had time to create either a substitute or a decision document) and
> because the proposed cut was too harsh.
>
> "I am concerned about this budget having an across-the-board cut," she
> said.   "It's so dependent on fees that we haven't kept up to date and
> expenses.   We've been steadily decreasing our support for air water
> and land in this state."
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 9:19 PM, Michigan
> Wetlands<greenf...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Yesterday, the senate appropriations subcommittee for the DEQ budget
>> passed out the DEQ budget without funding for the wetlands program.
>> It will now go to conference committee.
>>
>> The next couple of weeks are a critical time for people to contact
>> their legislators and Representative Bennett and Senator Garcia to get
>> funding for the wetlands program.  Please pass the word!
>>
>> >
>>
>
> >
>