The final four weeks of the 2021 Legislative Session will be largely focused on the budget. Senate Republicans released their Fiscal Year 2022 budget targets recently. State Senator Ken Rozenboom says the majority party is calling for a total budget of $7.999 billion, an increase of $195 million from the previous year and 94 percent of available revenue.

“As always, we believe it is wise fiscal policy to establish a budget that has some cushion as opposed to those who believe we should spend every dollar available,”

Rozenboom says the Senate’s FY 2022 budget targets include a $80 million increase in education funding and health care funding rises by $98.1 million — which includes an increase of $60 million for mental health services. He says a proposed investment in broadband internet from Governor Kim Reynolds was not included in that number, because the appropriation would likely be a one-time expenditure over the next three fiscal years.

Rozenboom says their plan includes the elimination of the triggers passed in the 2018 tax bill and the phasing out of the inheritance tax, as well as $100 million in property tax relief, mainly tied in a shift to how the state intends to pay for mental health services.