Lund in Lansing

More Taxes Passed

2009-10-06T20:23:00.001-04:00

Now three taxes have passed the house.

One more believed to be voted on tonight.

Pete

First Tax Vote

2009-10-06T17:56:00.002-04:00

The house just passed a tax increase that would eliminate the indexing for Michigan income tax exemption.

This bill will raise the taxes on every person in the state of Michigan.

Let's hope the Senate stands strong.

Pete

HIgher Taxes Pass Committee

2009-10-06T16:59:00.002-04:00

The Tax Committee passed four bills that will increase taxes on the people of Michigan.

I can't tell you exactly what they will do because what we passed isn't expected to be what we vote on on the floor.

Just so everybody knows, none of the bills had any yes votes from any Republican on the committee.

Pete

Off to Tax Committee

2009-10-06T13:27:00.001-04:00

The Dems have finished their caucus, so now we can meet in Tax Committee.

These should be easy votes.

Pete

Now it starts.

2009-10-06T11:38:00.002-04:00

We are FINALLY back in session and there is a call of the house. That means no member is allowed to leave the chambers or the immediate area.

The Dems just went into caucus where the Gov joined them.

I believe this means votes on higher taxes will begin today. Bring em on. Let's see where all the members of the legislature stand.

Pete

Shut Down Over

2009-10-01T01:32:00.006-04:00

After a brief shut down we have a deal and be state is open again.

Still trying to get all the details.

We will be back in session at noon.

Pete

2009-10-01T01:32:00.003-04:00

2009-10-01T01:32:00.001-04:00

SHUTDOWN

2009-10-01T00:07:00.002-04:00

We are shut down.

The Senate meets again at 12:15 am.

We will see if they pass the continuation budget.

Pete

Last Minute

2009-09-30T23:55:00.002-04:00

The only way a shut down stops is if the Senate passes the continuation budget.

I have heard of deals being cut, but no official word.

The clock in the House has been stopped.

Pete

T-60 minutes

2009-09-30T23:02:00.002-04:00

Still no movement here.

I am starting to wonder if there is any way a shut down can be stopped. Maybe only for a few hours, but it seems likely.

Pete

t-1.5 hours

2009-09-30T22:34:00.002-04:00

We still have not taken any action in hours.

The Senate just voted down an income tax hike 2-33.

So they don't want higher taxes and they don't want to make cuts. What is their answer? I think the people deserve an answer.

Pete

t-3 hours

2009-09-30T21:00:00.001-04:00

Still nothing to report.

A giant game of chicken seems to be brewing, and nobody will win.

Pete

T-4 hours

2009-09-30T19:55:00.001-04:00

With only four hours before a shut down, we still have 3 or 4 budgets to pass.

There is talk about one deal or another, but no real news.

Nothing like waiting for the last minute.

Pete

Why we can not fold and increase taxes.

2009-09-30T16:59:00.003-04:00

There are some that want us to vote to increase taxes and not make these painful cuts. I just can't do that.

The biggest problem in Michigan is not our deficit. It's our 15.2% unemployment rate.

Lansing must remember that the main focus has to be what we can do to increase jobs in this state and raising taxes is never the answer to that.

If we take more money from the people of Michigan and give it to bureaucrats, we will only hurt the economy and ultimately cause more job losses.

Two years ago the legislature followed the Governor's lead and raised taxes. Since then the unemployment rate has doubled. We must never let that happen again.

Let me make something perfectly clear, I want to increase the revenues by having our economy grow. When more citizens of Michigan are working more dollars will flow to Lansing. This is the only way we should talk about increasing revenues.

I know many of these cuts are tough. They are real. But the alternative is worse.

In the past the elected officials in Lansing have made serious mistakes that have put us in this trouble. Let's not repeat these mistakes. Let's create an economy that is growing and employing more people. The government check will never be better than a pay check.

I don't want a government shut down. I also don't want an economic shut down.

Pete

K-12 Budget stalled

2009-09-30T15:33:00.001-04:00

The votes still are not there for the K-12 budget so the board was cleared.

What's next???? Your guess is as good as mine.

Pete

Clear the Board

2009-09-30T14:16:00.002-04:00

Voting has stopped on the General Gov budget and the board has been cleared. That means the vote never was counted.

The Dems are now in caucus.

Pete

General Government

2009-09-30T14:08:00.004-04:00

Tight voting going on now. The General Govt Budget is having troubles.

This isn't an easy vote for any of us. There are cuts to revenue sharing that nobody likes, but many of us believe must come.

The history of revenue sharing makes me firmly believe it should exist. Unfortunately we just don't have the money to fund it at higher levels. If revenue sharing had never come into place, I am certain the revenues received by the local units of government would be down substantially from current revenue sharing levels.

Pete

Transportation Budget

2009-09-30T13:15:00.001-04:00

We now are on Transportation budget.

It appears to be non-controversial.

Pete

DCH budget

2009-09-30T11:53:00.002-04:00

Dept of Community Health budget is now being voted on.

Looks close, but should pass.

Pete

Higher Ed Budget

2009-09-30T11:48:00.002-04:00

Higher Ed budget passes with 57 yes votes.

Maybe thing will be on track.

Pete

What deal?

2009-09-30T11:14:00.003-04:00

Out of nowhere we are forced to vote on a bill that will spend an extra $420 million with nowhere.

This bill violates the bipartisan, signed agreement between the Democrat Speaker of the House and the Republican Senate Majority leader to balance the budget without raising taxes. It proves that the Democrats never had any intention of living up to their end of the bipartisan agreement to reduce spending because they are already trying to backfill agreed upon cuts.

There are many legal problems with this legislation. It attempts to repeal a law that does not exist, it attempts to provide supplemental funding to a budget that does not exist, and it references a revenue source that does not exist.

Democrats who control the House are flagrantly abusing their power by trying to ram this legislation through without allowing lawmakers to debate the bill or even read it before being forced to vote.

2009-09-30T10:51:00.002-04:00

Maybe we should call this a call of the Democrats. The GOP is here ready to work. They have the votes and ram through what ever they want.

It's starting to get interesting.

Pete

Call of House

2009-09-30T10:32:00.002-04:00

There is a call of the house.

That means members of the house are not allowed to leave the floor. It also means we can't go out to meet with other people.

Maybe now we will get serious about solving this problem.

Pete

Continuation Budget

2009-09-30T09:14:00.002-04:00

A vote is underway for a continuation budget.

This will keep all departments funded at that agreed to target levels for one month. The only budget not included is K-12.

This will mean only the Governor can shut down the state. Both the house and senate will have passed this.

Pete

We are back

2009-09-30T08:13:00.002-04:00

Less than 16 hours and we are back in session waiting for everybody to check in.

The only interesting thing to note is that I now have a Tax Committee meeting at 6:00 pm today. That could mean they will try to get a tax bill passed or it could mean nothing at all, only time will tell.

Pete

Let's call it a night.

2009-09-29T23:03:00.002-04:00

It appears we are done for the day.

We still have the tough votes to cast on the budget. Looking forward to it.

Watch out for tomorrow. It will be the day of the year in the Legislature.

Have a good night everybody.

We will be back in session at 8:00 am Wednesday. That will give us 16 hours to pass all the budgets.

Pete

Good bye Senate

2009-09-29T21:29:00.001-04:00

The Senate has gone home for the night and the Democrats are in caucus for who knows how long.

Pete

Moving forward

2009-09-29T20:25:00.002-04:00

Here we go.

Currently we are voting on Corrections Budget. It's not perfect, but we can live with it.

This budget will require reforms within the system, but not require early release. There is no sentencing guideline changes and I couldn't support this if it did.

Again, the important thing to remember is that the Governor can live within this budget with NO early releases, as long as she is willing to reform and not surrender.

Other budget are slowly moving.

One interesting note. There is a conference committee for Transportation scheduled for 12:15 am.

Pete

5:30 pm Update

2009-09-29T13:33:00.003-04:00

We have now been in session for seven and a half hours and have only passed one budget.

With 30.5 hours left to a shut down few seem worried, but I am.

Only a few budgets still need to pass conference committees, but that doesn't mean they will have the votes on the floor.

Nobody knows for sure, but there is a fear that some form of tax increase will be in front of us. Several are floating out there, but I have learned that means nothing. A tax vote could come out of nowhere or may never come up at all.

As the evening goes on I will keep you up to date on any action or lack of that we may take.

Pete

Dept. Education budget

2009-09-29T13:04:00.001-04:00

Dept of Education budget is now being voted on.

Looks like the votes are here to pass it.

Pete

36 hours

2009-09-29T10:55:00.002-04:00

We now have 36 hours left to pass the budgets for the state.

Both parties are off to caucus. Nobody is sure how long they will be meeting, but it may be a while.

Pete

Sunday session canceled

2009-09-27T00:46:00.003-04:00

Just got word that Sunday session is canceled. The House isn't scheduled to meet on Monday either since it is Yom Kippur.

That means we've got just two days left to get the budget finished. If the budget isn't finished by midnight Wednesday, the government will shut down.

The only other option is to pass an emergency budget to protect essential services, which I will vote for if given the chance.

Time is running out

2009-09-26T13:27:00.002-04:00

There are only four days left until a government shutdown. So far, we've only passed five budgets out of 15 on the House floor. A few more have made it out of committee.

We are making progress though. We have a bipartisan agreement between the House and Senate to balance the budget without raising taxes and everything seems to be on track.

Unfortunately, the governor has not yet said whether she will veto the bill. There are also a lot of indications that Granholm is working behind the scenes to kill the bipartisan agreement.

We need to take the prudent step of passing an emergency budget to protect essential services just in case the budget doesn't get done on time. We do not need to shut down the government. Shutting down the government is reckless and irresponsible.

Senate Republicans have already approved an emergency budget, but it wasn't supported by a single Democrat.

The House isn't scheduled to meet again until Sunday.

One For the good guys (for now)

2009-09-25T17:30:00.001-04:00

After failing to get enough votes to raise more fees (taxes), they cleared the board. This means they stopped voting because they were losing. It could come up again later, but for now the NO votes on taxes looks good.

Slowling moving

2009-09-25T17:01:00.001-04:00

We are passing a few bills.

Still rumors about deals and then no deals.

Everybody expects a late night/early morning.

Pete

Transportation budget

2009-09-25T16:04:00.002-04:00

They just put in a subsitute in for this and we have had no to even read this.

Am voting now unless we have time to read and review this

Pete

Ag Budget

2009-09-25T14:59:00.002-04:00

The Ag budget just passed with many GOP members voting no.

In the budget it increased the fees on dairy producers.

I will be NO an every and any tax increase.

Pete

Voting

2009-09-25T14:07:00.002-04:00

Yes folks we are voting YAAAAAAAAA.

There are only about 30 members here but the board is open on the DLEG budget.

Pete

Lunch

2009-09-25T10:50:00.002-04:00

After a strong morning of getting nothing done, we are breaking for lunch. This should give everybody time to figure out what they are doing for dinner.

Can you tell this is frustrating me?

Pete

Into Caucus

2009-09-25T10:50:00.000-04:00

Both parties are going in caucus.

We will back in who knows how long.

Pete

Tax Committee at ease

2009-09-25T09:42:00.002-04:00

Tax Committee may still do something today, but not right now.

We are at the ease of the chair. That means we could be called back at any time to vote on who knows what.

In 15 minutes the House is back in session.

Lots or rumors flying. I really don't know what to believe.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Pete

Friday Session

2009-09-25T07:53:00.003-04:00

Just got into the office, preparing for Tax Policy at 9 and Session at 10.

Here is a copy of the agenda for my committee meeting:

Agenda:
HR 150-(Barnett)-A resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact legislation prohibiting states with levels of unemployment that exceed the national average from being donor states.

OR ANY OTHER BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

I'll keep you posted with any updates.

Pete

It Official

2009-09-24T17:33:00.001-04:00

No voting today.

I will be back on here tomorrow.

9:00 is Tax Policy Committee. Interesting that that is meeting happening.

10:00 back in session.

Are we done for the day??? Before it ever started??

2009-09-24T17:07:00.001-04:00

It's floating out there that we may take NO VOTES today.

This could prove to be one long day where nothing is accomplished.

Headed to Caucus

2009-09-24T10:41:00.002-04:00

Heading into the caucus room. Democrats are doing the same...

I'll share more when I know.

Pete

House in Session

2009-09-24T10:19:00.002-04:00

The House is in session, with the possibility of the Higher Ed and School Aid budgets coming up soon.

There may be more budgets done today-I will keep you updated.

Done for the day.

2009-09-23T16:45:00.002-04:00

No more votes for the day.

Expect a VERY long day tomorrow.

Done for the day.

2009-09-23T16:45:00.001-04:00

Dems into caucus

2009-09-23T14:48:00.001-04:00

The Democrats just went into caucus to discuss who knows what. It will be interesting to see how long they stay in there.

MSP budget next?

2009-09-23T14:38:00.002-04:00

Now it seems the State Police budget is next. At least that is floating around.

As it looks to me the new State Police building in Lansing is in the budget. This will cause many of us to vote against it, even if it does restore some troopers. Rep. Bob Genetski (R-Saugatuck) was on the conference committee and voted no because of the building. Good job Bob.

Back on the floor.

2009-09-23T14:01:00.002-04:00

It's 2:00 and now we are just waiting to see what's next.

Rumors that a couple of other budgets might be voted on this afternoon or early evening.

At Ease

2009-09-23T11:49:00.000-04:00

The House is now off until 2:00 pm today.

Here we go.

2009-09-23T10:47:00.002-04:00

We are really starting to pass budgets.

Debate has begun on Community Colleges budget.

First are the easy ones. The harder ones may not be for several days.