Whitmer signs Michigan COVID-19 recovery into law, vetoes bill to remove her pandemic power
(The Center Square) – On Tuesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law at least $2.5 billion of the GOP’s COVID-19 recovery plan, but vetoed curbs on her pandemic powers.
The package includes a $2.25/hour wage increase for direct care workers, $283 million in federal emergency rental assistance, up to $110 million in federal funding for vaccine administration, and up to $555 million in federal funding for COVID-19 testing and tracing.
Whitmer welcomed the relief dollars but called on the legislature to allocate the remaining $2 billion of federal money.
“However, the reality is that there is more work to be done and there are still billions of dollars in federal funding that we need to get out the door to help businesses and families across the state,” Whitmer said in a statement. “The bills I received were not negotiated with me or my administration, and I continue to call on the legislature to ensure that we work together to ensure we maximize every penny that is available.”
Whitmer vetoed HB 4049, which includes $840.7 million of school district funding tied to the state Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) being prohibited from closing schools to in-person instruction or banning school sports under a COVID-19 epidemic order.
Whitmer’s administration says it’s reviewing whether the boilerplate language binds money allocated to education to the tie-barred bills.
The legislation sought to transfer authority from state government to local health departments required to adhere to specific COVID-19 data benchmarks before halting in-person instruction or banning school sports.
Whitmer vetoed four line-items: $405 million in business relief; $150 million deposited into the unemployment fund; $87 million for private schools; and $10 million for parents whose kids enroll in summer school, according to the Associated Press.
Rep. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said the veto showed Whitmer cares more about “preserving her own self-declared power” than about Michiganders’ livelihood.
“Thousands of Michiganders have already lost their jobs as the restaurants and other small businesses they worked at closed their doors forever because of COVID and the governor’s strictest-in-the-nation pandemic measures,” Albert said in a statement. “Thousands more are hanging on by a thread, and they were counting on the afflicted business survival program and support related to the unemployment system to help make it through. This desperately needed assistance was not tied to any other measure or condition in the relief plan – yet the governor vetoed it anyway, and with it, she is killing off whatever hope struggling families and job providers had left.”
State Budget Director David Massaron sent a letter to the House and Senate appropriations chairs asking for a joint meeting by March 12 to formally negotiate the appropriation of over $2 billion of federal funding.
Whitmer’s COVID-19 recovery plan was $5.6 billion, while the GOP’s was $4.2 billion pre-veto. Republicans have demanded accountability for the billions of federal stimulus dollars while Democrats have pushed for full funding release.
Small Business Association of Michigan President Brian Calley asked the legislature to override Whitmer’s small business support veto.
“Governor Whitmer has vetoed small business support multiple times, even as the state has received a windfall of financial support from the federal government,” Calley said in a statement. “Today’s veto sends a message that the state is not serious about the survival of small businesses. We worked hard to ensure that small business support was not tied to curtailment of any emergency powers because we didn’t want the Governor to have to pick between emergency powers and supporting small business. She could have done both because small business support was not tied to emergency power reductions.”
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