Lansing - A bill to repeal the Michigan Tuition Tax Credit is barely breathing.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education didn’t offer enough votes to pass forward legislation that would have refunded about $75 per semester to MSU students taking 15 credits, and more than $33 million to students statewide.
But the failure of the subcommittee to approve the bill will not stop the full Appropriations Committee from taking up the issue.
“I’m hoping that we can bypass the subcommittee process, which is obviously not working,” said state Rep. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing.
At a morning session, the subcommittee voted 5-2-1, with two members absent including state Rep. Paul DeWeese, R-Williamston, a vocal supporter of repealing the tuition tax credit. He would have given the necessary sixth vote to send the bill forward, with the approval from the subcommittee. DeWeese missed his vote because he was late for the meeting.
“He was frustrated,” Whitmer said. “After a few minutes of talking to his colleagues, he slammed his chair against the wall and left. He was upset with himself that he wasn’t there.
“I expressed my frustration that he was unable to come to the meeting at a timely matter. And the bill failed by one vote, which was his.”
In an afternoon committee meeting, DeWeese asked the committee to reconsider the legislation. But it was too late, as Rep. David Mead, R-Frankfort, changed his vote from yes to no, stopping the bill, 5-5.
“We missed the opportunity,” said DeWeese, who said he was late because of a prior obligation.
“Under the challenging circumstances that we have, I think that it was a good bill,” he said. “It did justice to Michigan State University, and I was very supportive of it.”
The legislation was designed to reimburse students at state universities who saw tuition increases this year. MSU raised tuition 8.9 percent.
MSU Trustee Colleen McNamara, the chairperson of the board, said she was disappointed about the setback for MSU students.
“I agree with (MSU President M. Peter McPherson’s) assessment, the tax credit needs to be repealed,” she said. “It has been a loss to higher education across the state.”
McNamara said she hoped the proposal will be taken up in the full House Appropriation Committee
“I hope the Legislature recognizes the reality of what this bogus tax decrease is and vote to repeal it,” she said.
The repeal is supported by such Republicans as Gov. John Engler, state Sen. John Schwarz, of Battle Creek, and Rep. Marc Shulman, of West Bloomfield, the Appropriations Committee chairman.
The Senate voted to repeal the credit in September.
“We like the bill that the governor has written and has passed the Senate,” said Steve Webster, MSU vice president of governmental affairs.
Webster said the university remains hopeful the bill will be brought up soon, before opportunities to repeal the tax credit are lost.
Rep. Sandy Caul, R-Mount Pleasant, the subcommittee chairwoman, stood firm in her opposition to the bill - despite Republican support and being from the home of Central Michigan University - saying it would financially hurt community college students and independent college students.
“It isn’t the right thing to do to rescind a bill that has worked to keep tuition down and provided tax credit to students,” Caul said. “Since the four-year institutions have chosen not to participate, we would penalize the taxpayers by taking money out of the pockets of those students and those families who have qualified for the tax credit.”
After repealing the tuition tax credit, the state’s community colleges would receive about $5.5 million of the total refund.
Matt Clayson, chairperson of ASMSU’s Academic Assembly, attended Tuesday’s committee meeting with fellow student leaders. ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.
“I still have hope that the Legislature will represent their constituents and the students, and make and effort to save people money,” he said.
Steve Eder can be reached at ederstev@msu.edu.
Eric Morath can be reached at morather@msu.edu.
