Snyder delivers first State of the State

LANSING — Republican Gov. Rick Snyder delivered his first State of the State address to Michigan lawmakers and the public Wednesday night. Standing before a joint session of the Michigan legislature, Snyder clarified a vision for Michigan, but provided very little in terms of details on how the state would bridge its estimated $1.8 billion budget deficit.

Progressive organizations and Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers of the legislature, said they were cautiously optimistic about the direction Snyder said he was taking the state.

“With the exception of his announcement regarding the Detroit River International Crossing, Governor Snyder’s speech was closer to stump speech happy talk than a State of the State address,” said David Holtz, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Those who criticized Governor Granholm’s State of the State addresses for puffery can now look back on her as a policy wonk by comparison to Snyder’s first address tonight. How’s the $1.8 billion budget deficit going to be solved? We will have to continue to wait. “

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing said after the speech she had not expected specifics in Wednesday’s speech. Details, she said, will come “on Feb. 17” when Snyder is expected to send his budgets to the legislature.

Snyder reiterated his support for the elimination of the Michigan Business Tax and the attendant surcharge, which raise nearly $1.5 billion in state revenue every year. Snyder has touted a plan to replace those disliked taxes with a flat six percent tax, but that would only bring in about $500 million.

Snyder told the legislature that the elimination of the “job killing MBT” would be contained in the budgets he will introduce to the legislature in mid-February. That budget will actually be a two year budget, with the first budget representing the mandated state budget for the 2011-2012 budget, and the second one proposed for 2012-2013.

“It’s hard to say what it will look like, we don’t have enough detail yet,” Whitmer said of the budget deficit and potential cuts of the MBT and surcharge. “I am optimistic we will get that level of detail on Feb. 17.”

“The first is the legally required one, the second is for planning,” Snyder said. “We can no longer afford to play kick the can down the road.”

While the speech was missing specifics on how Snyder and his team will balance the state budget, he did make two announcements that were a surprise.

First, Snyder says he will support the Detroit River International Crossing, a controversial plan to build a new, publicly-funded bridge between Detroit and Ontario, Canada. A proposal to pass the plan failed in the legislature twice this last year, and both times because of Republican opposition to the plan.

“I ask you to forget everything you heard in last year’s debate,” Snyder said of DRIC battles in 2010. “Private sector investment will be used.”

To sweeten the deal, Snyder says he has agreed to accept a loan offer from Canada to go towards the DRIC. In addition, Snyder said he was able to secure a “unique” deal with Washington wherein the Ontario money could be counted as money the state is putting forward as matching funds for federal road funds.

Without that match the state stood to lose millions in federal dollars for road projects because of the budget shortfall.

Detroit Democratic lawmaker Rashida Tlaib praised Snyder for endorsing the DRIC. She told MLive.com after the speech:

“I’m extremely happy he decided to make this a priority,” she said. “Happy he made it part of his State of the State address.”

House Minority Leader Richard Hammel (D-Mount Morris) said that announcement was the biggest surprise for him during the evening.

“The new bridge to Canada is critical for creation of new jobs and the principled point that public infrastructure should not be about enriching one person but needs to serve all the people,” said Tova Perlmutter, of Sugar Law Center National Lawyer’s Guild in Detroit.

Also somewhat shocking as a call from Snyder was a call for a focus on health care.

Snyder said the state needed to focus on better access and quality while lowering costs. He said this could be done by people focusing on getting and staying healthy, reducing obesity rates and kicking smoking habits. Ironically, that statement came only hours after the U.S. House voted to repeal last year’s health care reform bill that increases access to insurance for all Americans.

“Health care for all — one of the comments he made — is very important to us,” said Hammel.

One other proposal from Snyder drew praise as well.

The Michigan Education Association’s Doug Pratt was pleased with Snyder’s call to move from a traditional focus on K-12 education, to pre-school to college, or as he said, “P to 20.”

“Gov. Snyder spoke a lot about measurement and results this evening. That’s nothing new for public schools. But we also know that more tests and measurements alone won’t address the serious issues facing public education,” said Pratt, MEA’s communications director. “We need a properly aligned curriculum, greater accountability, financial stability, parental involvement and world-class educators serving our students — all of which we call for in MEA’s A+ Agenda.”

“He understands about the investment in early childhood education,” said Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of The Michigan League for Human Services. Jacobs just started in the role after being term limited out of the Michigan Senate.

The legislature Snyder addressed is a completely different animal than the one Gov. Jennifer Granholm presented her final State of the State speech to. The Republican party swept state elections, taking control of the Michigan House and increasing the majority in the Senate to a super majority. The red tide also swept the statewide offices including Secretary of State, Attorney General and two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Michigan Messenger reporter Eartha Jane Meltzer contributed to this report.