* John Fitzgerald, State Representative (D) Wyoming

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome back to Michigan's Big Show starring Michael Patrick Shields.
I'm Kyle Malin, editor of the Murrs newsletter. Well, we
have a budget for the State of Michigan and a
full year's budget. It was signed yesterday by the governor
in a closed door bill's signing, which is kind of unusual.
But a lot of things in the budget that Republicans like,

(00:31):
Democrats like enjoining us to talk about that for this segment.
John Fitzgerald, the House Minority leader here in the State
of Michigan, Good morning. How are you doing, sir?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good morning, Kyle. I'm doing well this morning, and Democratic
floor leader. Don't want to give myself a promotion, but
certainly looking forward to our conversation and explaining some great
things about about this budget.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
All right, Well, before we hit that, you got to
settle this issue with Tony Cuthbert and I. Will the
Tigers win today with Casey my against the Mariners.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
They absolutely have to, and I believe that the Tigers,
after they got trouns last night, are going to be
able to pull a few runs out today and get
the win.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
All right. See, I like your attitude. We're trying to
pump Tony Cuthbert up here. He's a little he's a
little down on the Tigers right now. He's watched a
little too much August and September Tigers baseball with too
many l's, So we're trying to get him pumped up here.
So appreciate that. So all right, let's get back to
the budget. Representative, what do you like most about this document?

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, you know, I think that this really is a bipartisan,
compromised approach that really is probably the best deal that
I and my party for that matter, could probably expect
in the coming year. I think that we all worked
very hard to understand what our priorities are in the process.
I think we came about with some really great solutions

(01:54):
for families, for healthcare, support for young kids, you know,
looking at pretty much universal or near universal pre K
being a part of this for me specifically in the
area that I represent, but looking statewide, when we talk
about families and the need for support with childcare and
early education, I think that's a critical point that to

(02:16):
have that maintained in the budget is critical for the
future of Michigan overall. Though, I mean we added in
a roads deal, we added in billions of dollars to
go towards safer, smoother roads. That's a great thing that
has not happened in a long time coming. And beyond that,
we're going into again families and into the classrooms with

(02:39):
greater support than ever before with a ten fifty dollars
per student per pupil funding. I think that there's a
lot to like. I think that this rounds out a
really strong budget for fiscal year twenty twenty six, and
I think that we're on the right track. It took
a long time, the process wasn't pretty. We did get

(03:00):
to a very very fine result.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
We're talking with Representative John Fitzgerald, Democrat out of Wyoming. Obviously,
the cannabis folks aren't all that happy. Did you see
They filed suit just minutes basically after the bill had
been signed because they don't like this new twenty four
percent wholesale tax they're getting hit with.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, we did see that, and I think that that's
what this is. This allows for that right, we can
see this lawsuit go forward. And I don't want to
comment too much, you know, on that, but in regards
to the revenue that it brings in for the state,
we had it down at about four hundred and twenty million,
helps to backfill from some really dangerous hot holes or

(03:40):
cuts that we came from the federal government, and also
helps us get to a point where we are balancing
the books against some really again dismal impacts from the
federal government on healthcare, on roads, on education that do
help us get to the next level. And so while
that suit goes, I'm unsurprised by that, but at the

(04:04):
end of the day, that's okay. We can make sure
that it is again I think, vetted in the right way,
and that suit will move through.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Now I know that this was a Senate Democrat initiative.
But our ex Kids, this new program that they want
to expand that deals with payments to pregnant women and newborns.
How much do you know about this?

Speaker 2 (04:28):
I don't know everything about it, but what I can
tell you is that Michigan and our maternal fetal outcomes,
you know, that is a challenge in a lot of
communities across the state. And when you're talking about our
ex Kids, the expansion of that program, I think it's
really I think it's a really unique program that I
think will have really significant outcomes, positive outcomes across the

(04:50):
state of Michigan. I think that the way that the
budget was framed up is that there's a look at
some specific communities and expansion of the program, but overall
conceptually and what it has evidenced already in the areas
that it has been in is that it's been very,
very positive for those kids and those families.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
As far as the tax cuts that were supposed to
happen to the business community, you know, they're going to
be smartening a little bit. They're going to say, you know,
we we really liked the one big beautiful bill and
the tax cuts that were as you know, put in
there for equipment and the depreciation schedules on on our equipment.

(05:33):
We would have really liked these tax cuts. And the
states come in and said, Nope, we're not actually going
to do that. What do you say to the business
community that was counting on a little relief from the
federal government.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, that was a really difficult vote for myself. I'll
just speak for myself there looking at what could what
could have been in terms of the tax cuts for
the business community. We again right now in Michigan, with
how the federal budget process has played out and the
environment that it has left us here in the state

(06:08):
of Michigan. It really does mean that we all have
to make some difficult choices and take a little bit
of a haircut, if you will, in terms of what
we can expect in those tax breaks. And so what
I'm going to say is, while we made a choice
to make sure that Michigan families, Michigan's economy, Michigan's entire

(06:32):
environment was going to be or less affected by the
bad impacts of the One Big, Beautiful Bill, this is
really something where we're all doing our part, and this
was a choice that we made to ensure that our
state budget was going to still be robust to save
Michigan's economy and the workforce that we do have.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Real quickly, we only got thirty seconds left, but no
tax on tips or overtime that did make it into
the budget. There will be some relief here for some
working families.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yes, some working families, as well as no tax on
Social Security, so we're talking about working families, those on tips,
with overtime, and senior citizens. It maintains tax cuts that
we had from last term when we did have a
democratic trifecta for working families, for senior citizens. I think
that again, while we may not see a full plate

(07:25):
of tax breaks.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
We will see some relief for working families. Appreciate it
very much