VanderWall co-sponsors legislation to change state budget completion date. 

Rep. Curt VanderWall

VanderWall co-sponsors legislation to change state budget completion date. 

LANSING — State Rep. Curt VanderWall (R-Ludington) recently signed on as a co-sponsor of a resolution changing the deadline for completion of the state budget to July 1.

VanderWall, the 101st House District representative, said House Joint Resolution X amends the Michigan Constitution by requiring the Legislature to present a balanced budget to the governor no later than July 1. If the deadline is not made, legislators will forfeit their daily salaries until the governor receives the spending plan.

“This is a common-sense solution to a long-standing problem involving local governments and school boards,”VanderWall said. “When I was a Mason County commissioner, I know there were many counties that were dependent on receiving budget figures from the state so they could set their budget, but were unable to do so. This caused them to guesstimate how much state money they would receive then force them to go back and revise their budget later in the year.  It was not an efficient way to set priorities. School districts that start their fiscal years in July faced the same issues.”

The resolution must gain two-thirds approval in both the House and Senate before it can be placed on a statewide ballot for voter consideration.

VanderWall said the Legislature should be docked pay on a daily basis if the deadline is missed.

“If it’s the Legislature’s job to help create a spending plan by a certain day and it fail to do so, legislators don’t deserve to be paid,” VanderWall said. “That’s good incentive to wrap up the budget by July 1.”

The resolution was referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

The 101st district represents Mason, Manistee, Benzie, and Leelanau counties.