Can you supplement what does not yet exist?

At about 11 am, the Michigan House began consideration of HB 5403, a supplemental appropriations bill that would restore some of the most controversial cuts demanded by several of the conference committee budget bills. The bill, introduced by Rep. George Cushingberry, would restore the Promise scholarships entirely, reduce the cuts in local revenue sharing to 3.5%, and restore most of the cuts to Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals.

Rep. Dave Hildenbrand immediately raised a point of order, asking how they can vote on a supplemental appropriation for a number of bills that haven’t even been considered yet, much less passed. Seems like a very good question, but apparently the parliamentarian determined that it could be done because a few minutes later, after much discussion, they took a vote on the bill.

The bill passed 66-42 and then a motion was made to allow the bill to take immediate effect (otherwise it could not take effect until March). The same 66-42 majority voted for immediate effect, but immediate effect requires a 2/3 vote, so the bill is effectively killed and will not go into affect.

It is unclear where much of the funding in the bill would come from. There is $173 million from federal money in the bill, which is presumably federal stimulus money that was supposed to be set aside to help balance next year’s budget. That leaves about $250 million in appropriations without a specific source of funding in the bill. Rep. Dave Proos criticized the bill as using revenue created “out of thin air.”