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The Michigan Capitol

(File photo)

LANSING -- Organizations like Planned Parenthood wouldn't be able to contract with the state of Michigan under a $37.86 billion budget passed by the House of Representatives Tuesday.

Representatives passed the general government budget by a vote of 59-51, with Republican Reps. Todd Courser, Cindy Gamrat, Martin Howrylak and Joel Johnson joining Democrats in voting against the budget. The budget includes about $8 billion from the state's general fund.

The Michigan Senate is still working on its own budget; eventually members of both chambers will meet to form a single proposal to send to Gov. Rick Snyder.

Amendment WW adopted Tuesday would amend state law to keep the state from contracting "with an organization which provides elective abortions, abortion counseling or abortion referrals." The amendment also bans organizations under contract with the state from contracting with the same types of organizations.

House Democrats said the amendment means any organization providing those services will not be able to receive any state funding, should the budget become law.

"It's extremely disappointing that the Republican caucus would use women's health as a bargaining chip," said Rep. Kristy Pagan, D-Canton. "... I think it's completely unacceptable just to get Republican caucus support to pass this omnibus budget bill."

Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, said multiple members of the House Republican caucus expressed concern about state dollars going to support Planned Parenthood.

In the last two budgets, zero state dollars have gone to that organization, he said. House Republicans wanted to make sure that, in the future, that wouldn't change, he said.

"The concern is that there may be some discretion at the department level as to whether this could be allowed going forward," he said. "And so, this is just greater assurance by making an amendment to add some boilerplate language."

Cotter said he'd discuss concerns the move would jeopardize the state's ability to receive federal funding, which were raised by Democrats who said the amendment might end up costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

•Read a full breakdown of the omnibus budget here.

Some Democrats said the budget process moved too quickly, a claim that House Appropriations chairman Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville, said wasn't true. He pointed out Snyder presented his budget proposal about 12 weeks ago and it was important to get a budget done before school districts and local governments do their own budgets in June.

Pscholka said many of the best parts of the budget aren't exciting, but will serve the state well.

"We are paying down the debt when we vote for this budget," he said. "Michigan remains no. 1 in the country for debt reduction. It's not sexy. It's not a fancy new program. It's protecting our kids and grandkids and it's the right thing to do."

Still, House Democrats dinged the budget as not being balanced, cutting money from Detroit and not doing enough to stop the move of the Senate offices from the Farnum building to the Capitol View building in downtown Lansing.

Rep. Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids, said the state does not accept and allocate enough federal money to fund the amount of people on Healthy Michigan, the state's expanded Medicaid program.

Dillon said the budget passed by the House assumes there will be 475,000 people using Healthy Michigan in the next fiscal year. There are already more than 600,000 people on the plan, he said.

"We have to accept and allocate the (federal) money," Dillon said. "And, the budget that we've approved doesn't or allocate enough money to cover that."

The budget also decreases the amount of revenue sharing headed to the city of Detroit by $5.8 million.

Rep. Laura Cox, R-Livonia, said the state revenue sharing formula has focused on "propping up" Detroit for too long.

"The truth is, Detroit has been receiving a disproportionate piece of the pie for a very long time," Cox said, adding that the city has 7 percent of the state's population but gets 55 percent of the state's revenue sharing dollars.

The decision to cut funding from Detroit incensed multiple Democrats.

Rep. Harvey Santana, D-Detroit, said he was upset by the "constant attacks" on Detroit by House Republicans.

"I will continue to work with my Republican colleagues to find solutions, but I hope there will be a commitment to not Detroit-bash when it's politically convenient for your next election," he said.

House Democrats were also unable to put language into the budget to strip any state funding for new office space for the Michigan Senate.

The upper chamber is poised to move into new office space near the Capitol under a deal that is projected to cost $134 million over 30 years.

The only line item in the House budget that mentions the move is actually removing a $7 million appropriation for moving expenses. There will also need to be appropriations for debt spending on the building in coming years that will need approval in the Legislature.

However, the budget provides funding for the lease for the Senate's new offices through the Department of Community Health's budget, which currently occupies that space.

"The DCH budget provides for a year lease in the Senate office building, and DCH only occupies it for about half that time," said Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills. "Then the senators move in and their six month lease ... is essentially paid for by DCH while DCH offices are closing around the state."

However, Cotter didn't see it the same way. He said the budget doesn't include the $134 million figure mentioned often by Democrats, and Democrats are trying to turn this issue into "political football."

"The fact of the matter is it's not there," he said.

Of course, all of this debate might be a moot point, according to Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof.

"From a contractual perspective, we are right now bound by contract to proceed with that transition in regards to moving into that new office space, so it's really not a policy issue," she said.

Kyle Feldscher is the Capitol education and MSU reporter for MLive Media Group. Reach him via email at kylefeldscher@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter at @Kyle_Feldscher. Read more stories here.