When state lawmakers miss the July 1 deadline for passing a budget, every facet of our state is put at risk,” said Fairbairn, R-Harbor Springs. “Schools, local municipalities, corrections officers, state agencies, and many others need us to do our most important job – passing a budget – in order to have the information they need to prepare their own. If any of those officials – superintendents, department directors, law enforcement, or others – fail to finalize a budget, they wouldn’t just lose their pay, they’d be fired. The fact that lawmakers can skirt their constitutional duties and still collect their checks is absurd.”
