Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks to reporters after presenting her proposal for the state's Fiscal Year 2025 budget in February 2024. (Andrew Roth |Michigan Advance)

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reportedly told state employees in an email that their jobs would be unaffected by the ongoing state budget negotiations considering the Michigan Legislature has not yet passed a consensus budget into the mid-afternoon Tuesday – the final day of the current fiscal year.

While the email, which was shared with Michigan Advance, projected confidence in a budget being completed soon, there were still rumors swirling that a continuation budget might be in order to keep the government open as plans are finalized in the coming days.

Gongwer News Service, a Lansing political newsletter and intelligence service, was first to report the existence of the email.

“As you woke up this morning, got ready, dropped your kids off at school, and went to work, I know you might be feeling a lot of uncertainty about the state budget,” Whitmer wrote. “You’re wondering what the daily churn of news means for you, your family, and your finances. I wanted to tell you directly about the work we’re doing to keep government up and running and pass a state budget as soon as possible.”

Whitmer said that the House and the Senate have an agreement to pass a full fiscal year budget, and that all state government operations would continue as normal today.

The governor, however, said the government would stay open as the budget was finalized throughout the week, which signaled that lawmakers might not be done with negotiations or produce a final budget this evening.

No one in the state government has plainly said that the government planned to shut down tomorrow.

The last time the government shut down was in 2007 and 2009, but only for a few hours because the respective chambers of the Legislature and then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm approved a continuation resolution of current year spending to keep dollars and operations flowing.

A message seeking comment from the Michigan State Employees Association was not returned at the time of publication. The president of UAW Local 6000, one of the largest state employee unions, told Michigan Public Radio they received word from Whitmer that there will be either a budget deal or some short-term extension of the current budget to tide the state over.

Whitmer in the late afternoon Tuesday was seen meeting with state Rep. Ranjeev Puri, D-Canton, the House minority floor leader, and state Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, as negotiations continue.

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