Democrat Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks and Republican House Speaker Matt Hall have had a contentious relationship that at times led to lawsuits between the Michigan chambers. (Simon Schuster/Bridge Michigan)

(This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.)

LANSING — GOP House Speaker Matt Hall is threatening to hold up Michigan’s state budget unless Democrats in the state Senate start passing some of his caucus’ priorities, raising the specter of the second straight year of protracted budget negotiations.

Hall’s priorities are far from Democrat’s interests: They include broad property tax cuts, repealing loosened childhood literacy requirements and slashing anti-poverty programs.

“If we don’t see movement from the Democrats on some of these issues, then we could just do a four-month continuing resolution, and we’ll do a new deal next year with a Republican governor and maybe a Republican Senate,” Hall said, confident that Republicans will expand their control of the Legislature and win Michigan’s top office in the November midterm election.

But with Republicans controlling the state House and a Democratic majority in the Senate, state budgets have to be a product of bipartisan compromise before they can reach Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk.

That process was prolonged and painful in 2025, as lawmakers blew through multiple deadlines and were forced to pass stopgap funding legislation to prevent a state government shutdown, before a budget was finalized and signed into law on Oct. 5.

This time Hall’s floated stopgap would fund the government until a new government and legislature are sworn into office, though this would require the support of Senate Democrats. If Democrats win control of the legislature, however, the GOP advantage for the tactic would evaporate.

Unlike last year, when House Republicans did not pass a budget until late August, both the House and Senate passed fiscal year 2027 funding bills more than a month ago. All that’s left now is to reconcile the two and negotiate a compromise that can pass both chambers.

Senate Democrats are committed to hitting the July 1 deadline, said Rose Jones, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, and put the onus on the House. Brinks and Hall have had a chilly rapport throughout the legislative term.

“A lot of good work has been done to this point, and one would hope that the House does the responsible thing,” Jones said in a statement.

But it’s not clear how close the chamber may be to a deal. While Michigan’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1, the state’s public schools could feel the impact of another prolonged negotiation well before that.

Schools have had a July 1 budget deadline under state law since 2019, meaning they’re again staring down the prospect of planning for another year without knowing exactly how much funding they’ll receive. Though each chamber’s funding proposals aren’t as far apart as in 2025 for schools, some major differences remain.

Robert McCann, of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan, said months of funding uncertainty would “again would be an unmitigated disaster” for many districts.

“You’re going to see districts that are leaving a wide variety of positions unfilled, you’re going to see pink slips go out the door, you’re going to see programs get paused or put on indefinite hold, if not outright canceled,” McCann said in an interview.

Despite the uncertainty, McCann said he remains hopeful a budget can still be completed on time.

“It would be very doable, but they’re choosing not to do it,” he said.

After years of surpluses, Michigan is facing slower revenue growth than in years past, and federal policy changes from the administration of President Donald Trump mean Michigan will have to shift hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid funding cuts.

Whitmer had proposed about $800 million in new taxes on nicotine products, online betting and internet ads to stabilize looming cuts to Medicaid funding. That didn’t make it into either chamber’s budget. Legislative earmarks in the state budget have also declined since lawmakers passed reforms last year requiring more transparency in the process.