State Representative Joey Andrews says Democrats in Lansing are pursuing several paths to reverse a House Republican move to rescind roughly $645 million in state grant funding.

The Republican clawback of funding for projects throughout Michigan was possible thanks to an almost never-used procedure enabling an appropriations committee to reject work project funding without legislative or the governor’s approval. Andrews says work projects are things that were allocated funding but have so far only received a portion of that funding, sending the remainder into the following year. That’s a lot of projects.

“All sorts of things, ” Andrews said. “Wigs for kids with cancer, homeless shelters, senior centers, just a wild assortment of grants with really no rhyme or reason behind what they picked and didn’t pick.”

Here in the 38th District served by Andrews, there have been about five projects affected.

“Many of the grants that were targeted, money has already been spent. For instance, we have a senior center being built up at Casco Township in my district where we got $200,000 from them to fund the project. They’ve just about completed the project and have asked for reimbursement for the money they’ve spent, but the grant was rescinded.”

Andrews says this has also affected city hall renovations in Bridgman, a theater restoration project in Benton Harbor, and a business incubator in South Haven.

Now lawmakers are scrutinizing whether the Republican move was legal, noting the rarely used budget rule has never been applied at this scale and was approved through a fiscal analysis vote rather than a bill. Andrews says there’s a strong case to reinstate funding where projects have already spent money in reliance on state grants, arguing the state can’t legally or ethically pull back funds that have been encumbered. He adds the whole idea of clawing back grants that were already awarded would be bad for the state, in general.

“I think it creates a real problem for the state going forward, because why would anybody trust the state to keep a promise at that point, once you break a promise like that? And that’s not just for grant funding. If you’re a business trying to relocate in Michigan, you suddenly have to ask yourself, is the state just going to claw back anything they’ve promised us after we get here?”

Andrews says Republicans have indicated a willingness to walk back some of the cuts they approved last week. So, why did they do it in the first place?

“All I can think is that the Speaker and his appropriations chair just got back from the big conservative ALEC convention down in Texas where they got an award for fiscal responsibility. I think they just kind of came back high on their own hype and decided more cuts were in order and they really stepped in it.”

The Senate has already passed a budget supplemental to restore all affected grants and sent it to the House, and the Senate Appropriations Chair has requested a legal opinion from the Michigan Attorney General. Andrews says he backs legislation to close the loophole going forward by requiring approval from both chambers before any similar clawback can occur.