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(WXYZ) – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan legislature have agreed on a budget proposal that could hamper local efforts to fight the pandemic.
Under the nearly $ 70 billion budget deal, Michigan state agencies cannot require employees or customers to get vaccinated.
It would also ban state and local health officials from enforcing mask warrants in schools. This means that mandates, like the one proposed by the Oakland County Health Department, could be null and void under this budget bill.
Instead, the decision to require masks would be left to school boards and school districts. Right now, just over half of Michigan students attend a school with a mask warrant.
“This budget is going to make a big difference and the work we are doing will continue,” said Whitmer.
Whitmer says the state’s proposed budget for 2022 prioritizes the Michiganders.
The deal includes increased child care services for families, major investments in infrastructure changes and millions of dollars for training programs to help grow the state’s workforce. .
“We have to invest to support families, to support workers, to support children and businesses and I think you are going to see that there are a lot of good things in this budget and I am delighted”, a- she declared. .
The bill also contains a provision prohibiting state entities from requiring vaccine passports.
It also expressly prevents county health departments from imposing masks on anyone 17 and under, meaning that any mask warrant in K-12 schools would have to come from the school districts themselves.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services could still issue general emergency orders, but they would have to provide detailed rationale.
The extra step of justification came from lawmakers who believed Whitmer’s orders at the start of the pandemic were made recklessly and without evidence.
“It was definitely a tough few years,” Whitmer said.
The budget deal, also known as Senate Bill 82, was reached in closed-door negotiations. Whitmer says the process will become more transparent in the coming weeks.
“I’m a woman of my word, so I’m going to let them get this out to their members before I start talking about it more publicly,” she said.
The governor says she plans to sign this bill but has the power to veto certain provisions, including those related to COVID-19 mitigation.
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