The long-awaited Michigan House of Representatives budget landed Tuesday, moving the showdown over how to fund the state into its next phase – negotiations on a consensus spending plan.

Members of the House voted Tuesday to pass a substitute version of House Bill 4706 along party lines. The vote was 59 aye votes to 45 nay votes, and the bill was given immediate effect.

The House budget would fund the state’s various departments with $54.63 billion, with $12.09 billion to the General Fund.

Passage of the House bill comes after House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, met Tuesday with Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to discuss the path forward after months of verbal grenade throwing and sparring on the budget timeline.

At present, the Legislature is now many weeks past its statutory July 1 deadline to complete and present to the governor an appropriations bill to fund state departments, public schools and higher education. Although the deadline has been missed before, this year’s budget fight is novel in the fact that partisan gridlock has stalled movement on negotiations.

Brinks, in a statement provided to Michigan Advance, said there was much work to be done but the distractions between the two chambers needed to end.

“I have made my disappointments and frustrations about entering September without a House budget proposal abundantly clear,” Brinks said. “It’s 36 days until October 1, and we have a lot of work to do. It’s work that we can accomplish, but the games and distractions need to end.”

The governor’s office also acknowledged the meeting and called it productive.

“Today, Governor Whitmer sat down with Senate Majority Leader Brinks and Speaker Hall to discuss the state budget,” Whitmer spokesperson Bobby Leddy told the Advance. “It was a productive meeting, and our team will stay in close touch with legislators and their staff over the next month to get this done.”

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