LANSING — Michigan lawmakers took a significant step toward finalizing a state budget plan Thursday night.
The Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate put out their joint spending proposal for more than $51 billion.
Around 9:45 p.m. Thursday, the House moved to advance the proposal in a 101-8 vote.
The plan avoids most of the cuts that were originally proposed by House Republicans.
Budgets for most state agencies were altered by only a few percent compared to last year’s spending.
One notable exception is the Department of Health and Human Services, which could see a 20% cut, mostly impacting Medicaid services.
The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity also could take a significant hit.
Lawmakers propose cutting a quarter of its budget, largely due to the reduction of several business incentive programs.
The House and Senate plan to vote on the proposals either overnight or on Friday.
The plan comes a week after leaders said they had reached a framework agreement and two days after a brief government shutdown.
It also comes more than three months after the Legislature was required by law to pass their budget plan — but the deadline came and went without consequence.
Gov. Whitmer will have the final say on the plan, since she has the authority to veto line-items as she sees fit.
The government will remain funded through at least the end of the day Oct. 8.
There were no details yet on education funding.