Gov Calls for Budget by June 30, MI Reconnect Expansion & Looking at Hydrogen 

Article courtesy of MIRS for SBAM’s Lansing Watchdog newsletter

(DETROIT) – In her final remarks to the Detroit Auto Show as governor, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on legislators to send her a final budget deal by June 30 and permanently expand the Michigan Reconnect degree program to 21-year-olds. She also ordered the state to explore “geologic hydrogens” as a new clean energy source. 

“The Legislature has got to get their job done on time this year, and that means they got to get the state budget done and over to my desk by June 30 this year,” Whitmer said Thursday morning. “With so much uncertainty in the world, we owe it to local governments, schools and business leaders to enact a transparent, timely budget.”  

Legislators created a July 1 deadline for sending budget bills to Whitmer for the upcoming fiscal year in 2019.  

However, the law does not come with penalties for legislators failing to make the deadline, which has led to independent candidate for governor, Mike Duggan, Detroit’s previous mayor, proposing for all legislators, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to have their salaries suspended if budgets aren’t adopted by July 1. 

This past year, lawmakers missed their own constitutional deadline for having a budget prepared and implemented by Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year. In order to prevent a government services shutdown, the Legislature adopted a week-long temporary budget to keep functions operating.  

The Governor signed the Fiscal Year 2026 $81 billion budget on last Oct. 7. 

As for Michigan Reconnect, Whitmer said she’s going to sign SB 232 and SB 233 by Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) when they pass through the Legislature. The bills would lower the eligibility age in statute for the Michigan Reconnect program from 25 to 21 years old, maintaining the change through September 2032.  

Michigan Reconnect is a “last-dollar” scholarship program for young adults to attend their local community college, as long as they have resided in Michigan for at least one year and have not completed any kind of college degree.  

In the budget created last year by House Republicans and Senate Democrats, $42 million was set aside for the program, setting eligibility at the original 25-years-and-up threshold. Returning to the old age requirements came despite Democrats’ earlier maneuvers to make the program available to 21-to-24-year-olds during the Democratic Trifecta in the 2023-24 term.  

According to the Senate Fiscal Agency (SFA) in November, it “would not be unreasonable” to estimate that a permanent expansion would cost $5 million to $10 million extra on a yearly basis. Right now, students who are 25 and over are projected to use nearly all the $42 million appropriation this year.  

Whitmer said since her first year as governor, more than 200,000 Michiganders have signed up for Michigan Reconnect.  

“They might be changing careers, looking to make more money or pursuing a lifelong dream. No matter the reason, I’m really proud of every Reconnecter for betting on themselves,” Whitmer said.  

She also talked about wanting to “reduce paperwork and speed up the time to market for new ideas” when it comes to updating Michigan’s permitting process for entrepreneurs. She additionally called to “keep building up our cities and towns, making them more affordable and attractive to talent,” giving a shout-out to investments the state has made into transit, housing and “place-making.”  

Whitmer said while backstage ahead of her 20-minute remarks, she signed an executive directive to help the state explore geologic hydrogens as a new source of clean and reliable energy. 

“Now this directive could make us a national leader in this space. We’re already seeing a lot of interest in Michigan because we have more potential reserves under our feet than any and every other state,” Whitmer said. “If our hydrogen reserves are proven safe and viable, they could lead to (a) massive economic boom, creating jobs, lowering costs and reducing our reliance on foreign fuel.”  

In late January of last year, WCMU reported that Michigan possibly had large deposits of naturally-occurring hydrogen gas, located underground, based on a map by the U.S. Geological Survey.  

Todd Allen, the co-director of the MI Hydrogen research institution within the University of Michigan, informed the media that it could be extracted similarly to petroleum and natural gas from the ground, saving “a lot of energy and costs” because it doesn’t require separation.  

However, still lacking at the time were the exact locations of the deposits and whether there was enough hydrogen gas to justify mining. 

In a press release, Ishan Sharma, the director of geologic hydrogen efforts at Renaissance Philanthropy – which builds philanthropic funds supporting scientific and technology projects – said the last time new and abundant energy sources were discovered was more than 80 years ago when it came to nuclear power.  

“It’s even better when the new resource is potentially 90 (percent) less expensive than the way we make clean hydrogen today. Michigan’s one of the best places to show the world how geologic hydrogen can lower the costs of goods like steel (and) fuels, while cutting emissions in those industries decades earlier than anyone thought possible,” Sharma said.  

Whitmer also took the time to scrutinize tariffs on foreign transactions, which was something President Donald Trump defended heavily on Tuesday in front of the Detroit Economic Club. 

She said tariffs have taken a terrible toll.  

“Manufacturing in America has contracted for nine straight months, leading to job losses and production cuts. Every industry that relies on a skilled hands-on workforce is facing shortages. This will only get worse without (a) serious shift in national policy. We need a change now,” Whitmer said. “Tariffs have their place, but they will not magically restore American manufacturing.”  

In fact, she said, without a clear strategy, they hurt the United States more than its adversaries.  

She also talked about the American auto industry being up against China.  

“China’s ultimate goal is complete vertical integration, from extracting metal and minerals out of the ground to handing customers the keys. China wants to dominate every part of auto manufacturing,” she said. “They make three times as many cars as we do . . . in 2025, they exported 6.8 vehicles, up from just 1 million in 2020.”  

She noted that the Chinese government has directly invested more than $230 billion into eclectic vehicles and batteries since 2009, capturing the market share nearly everywhere except the U.S. and Canada.  

“We can’t just copy China’s top-down, go-it-alone approach. Instead, we need to double down on our strengths, innovation and collaboration,” Whitmer said. 

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