Governor Granholm says she will not shut down popular agriculture support programs, as some had feared. But Michigan State University Extension and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Stations will be re-focused.
They plan to focus less on services to rural communities, and more on energy efficiency, renewable energy and regional food systems.
Leaders of the programs feared earlier this week that the governor would eliminate them with a line-item budget veto.
A spokeswoman for the governor says that won't happen.
But Granholm is expecting to veto other line-items, as the final budget bills pass her desk today. She says the money from the still-unidentified line item vetoes can be used to restore budget cuts to schools, Medicaid, and the Michigan Promise scholarship that she opposes.
She says if legislative Republicans don't want to do that, they can agree to some of the revenue options that Democrats have outlined. They include a rollback of some tax breaks, a new tobacco tax, and selling late-night liquor licenses. But Republican leaders say the threat of vetoes will not make them negotiate on more money for state government.
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