LANSING – State Representative Dian Slavens (D-Canton) today joined a bipartisan group of legislators to introduce a constitutional amendment that will require the state's budget to be balanced by July 1 on any given year. Under the plan, Michigan's Senators and Representatives will lose pay for every day the budget remains unbalanced after the deadline.
"Our residents deserve better than to see their hard-earned tax dollars going to lawmakers who can't get the job done," said Slavens. "As public servants, it's our responsibility to put the people's interests before our own. If legislators allow a government shutdown because they fail to balance the budget on time, then they don't deserve to be paid."
Michigan legislators have a constitutional obligation to balance the state's budget by Oct. 1. Under the plan introduced today, that deadline will be moved to July 1 to ensure the budget is balanced in a timely manner. For every day after the new July 1 deadline that the budget is not balanced, lawmakers will be docked pay.
The Legislature's failure to enact a balanced budget endangers Michigan's ability to educate our kids, provide health care for our children and seniors, keep firefighters and police on the streets and provide other essential services that residents and communities rely on.