State House drops Right to Work penalty, offering clearer picture of university’s state allocation

Under House budgets, public entities receiving state funds would have seen anywhere from a 2 percent to 15 percent cut in their Fiscal Year 2014 state appropriation if they approved a union contract that did not realize a savings of 10 percent.

Specific to the university, the House Higher Education Budget (House Bill 4228) would have cut Fiscal Year 2014 funding for universities that approved union contracts by 15 percent. With the approval of renegotiated contracts by the University of Michigan Board of Regents, all three campuses would have been cut by more than $47 million. The University of Michigan–Dearborn could have seen a cut of $3,335,600 in Fiscal Year 2014 – a 14 percent cut over current year funding.

With the House of Representatives move to delete the penalizing language, the university’s state allocation now becomes slightly clearer.

Under the House Higher Education budget, UM-Dearborn would receive a Fiscal Year 2014 state appropriation of $22,470,600 – a 1 percent ($233,300) increase over current year funding.

Under the Senate’s budget (Senate Bill 193), UM-Dearborn would receive a Fiscal Year 2014 state appropriation of $22,684,200 – a 2 percent ($446,900) increase over current year funding.

Given the volatility of the state budget process, university leadership continues to draft various operational budget scenarios based on the actions of the Michigan Legislature. Regardless of the outcomes, there is still much work to be done both in Lansing and here in Dearborn.

The House and Senate budgets will now go before each chamber for a vote before being sent to Conference Committee, where the final details of the budget will be negotiated. The budget process is slated to be complete by the beginning of June.

Want to stay informed of and advocate on Federal, State and Local issues impacting the University of Michigan–Dearborn? To receive pertinent information on a timelier basis by email, please contact Mike Latvis, UM–Dearborn’s government relations manager, at [email protected].