The restructuring is geared toward reducing the amount of programs, which Snyder said does not indicate that people are being helped — rather, he said, many programs are “facilitating dependency” through addressing symptoms and not root causes.

“The system is failing, folks,” Snyder said.

But the merger, economics professor Charles Ballard said, could bring about a problem — layoffs for government employees.

“I don’t think the numbers would be large, but I know that is something people are very concerned about,” Ballard said.

The merger will create the state’s largest department, surpassing the Michigan Department of Corrections in number of employees.

The move could be part of a strategy to help the economy due to the $325 million mid-year shortfall that the Snyder administration is facing.

“We have taken in many challenges that people thought were unbelievable,” Snyder said. “Michigan is a much better place than it was several years ago.”

Though there has been a lot of information in the recent days about possible budget cuts, Snyder didn’t go into details in his fifth State of the State address.

“(The budget) is going to require special work,” Snyder said. “We are not going to be beaten by some legacy of the past.”

Economics professor Lisa Cook said talking about the budget in this type of address would have been a downer.

“I didn’t expect him to talk about that. He wanted to give an upbeat, positive message,” Cook said. “The State of the State speech is more to provide a vision rather than budget cuts and he wanted to talk a lot about positive things.”

The Snyder administration prepares to work with $532 million less revenue in the 2016 fiscal budget due to a $224 million worth tax credits cashed by an unidentified business in December.

Among the funding cuts needed to balance the budget, higher education could take a hit, Ballard said.

“There is a possibility because the shortfall is in the general fund which covers higher ed, prisons and social services,” Ballard said. “There is at least some potential to touch higher education.”

In Snyder’s first term as a governor, the amount of funding granted to state universities was cut 15 percent, citing it was needed in order to combat a budget deficit.

In the past, MSU officials have reiterated that decreased state funding for higher education demands increased tuition costs for students.

In the democratic rebuttal to Snyder’s address, Senate minority leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills, said college affordability was a topic Snyder should not have left untouched.

“We need to do more make college affordable, that is critically important if our young people are going to be successful,” Griemel said.

Griemel and other Democratic leader expressed cautious optimism towards several of the governor’s proposals, saying they were “eager to see the details around the governor’s proposals.”

But the caucus leadership did not hesitate in lambasting Snyder’s fiscal record, arguing that “in the last four years the economy has not worked for everyone,” citing a declining middle class and what democrats have asserted as harsh taxation on the poor.

Snyder pushed a road funding referendum that would improve roadways, as crummy roads can endanger drivers and cost them in vehicle repairs, he said.

“We need a transportation proposal to deal with the fact that we have rotten roads and bridges in the state,” Snyder said. “The key issue is public safety.”

Snyder emphasized the importance of Michiganians’ approval on the referendum that could improve the roads.

“We need to ask our citizens to support our efforts in the ballot proposal in May,” Snyder said. “We need to do something, folks.”

Voters would have the opportunity to vote to raise the sales tax from six to seven percent on the upcoming May 5 elections — the revenues would help improve roads and allocate part of the money for school improvements.

“Vote yes so we can have safer roads … Vote yes so we can have stronger schools and government,” Snyder said.