The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
2 — Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Whitmer grants $76.3 
million for Michigan 

colleges and universities

GOVERNMENT

Coronavirus funding allows state to boost 

contributions to higher education

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GRACE BEAL/Daily

Whitmer removes sales tax on all feminine hygiene products in the state
 ‘Tampon tax’ officially ends

The State of Michigan’s 6% 

sales tax on tampons and other 
menstrual 
goods 
officially 

ended Thursday. A bipartisan 
bill removing the tax, which 
is applied to “luxury goods,” 
went into effect 90 days after 
Governor Gretchen Whitmer, 
D-Mich., signed it into law. The 
bill is applicable to tampons, 
panty liners, menstrual cups, 
sanitary napkins and other 
products connected with the 
menstrual cycle.

This bill comes after other 

states 
including 
California, 

New York and Connecticut 

passed bills eliminating the 
tax on menstrual products. 
Currently, 27 states continue 
to levy a sales tax on feminine 
hygiene products. 

The average menstruating 

Michigander uses about 17,000 
pads or tampons, which can 
add up to $4,800 in just sales 
tax, according to Whitmer’s 
press release. 

In an interview with The 

Michigan Daily, Whitmer said 
this bill has been in the works 
for 10 years.

“I’m thrilled because we 

know that the purchase of 
these essential items is not 
discretionary,” Whitmer said. 
“It’s 
an 
absolute 
essential 

need, and when we tax it, 

we 
disproportionately 
hurt 

women and girls in Michigan, 
and that’s why it’s so important 
that we eliminate this tax: so 
anyone who menstruates in 
the state of Michigan now will 
not have to pay this additional 
burden.”

Period Equity, a nonprofit 

founded by women, has led 
a nationwide movement in 
repealing the “tampon tax.” 
In 2016, the organization filed 
a lawsuit against the State of 
Michigan, alleging the state’s 
tax 
was 
unconstitutional 

because it discriminated on 
the basis of sex.

This bill is part of a greater 

effort 
to 
make 
menstrual 

products 
more 
accessible. 

In 
November, 
Ann 
Arbor 

became the first city in the 
country to require free sanitary 
products in public restrooms for 
menstruating individuals.

Whitmer said this bill will 

improve the quality of life for 
menstruating individuals across 
the state.

“People 
spend 
thousands 

of 
dollars 
(on 
menstrual 

products) over the course of a 
lifetime,” Whitmer said. “This 
is a meaningful improvement 
in terms of the bottom line for 
people like my daughters and 
me, all of us who menstruate.”

Daily 
News 
Editor 
Kate 

Weiland can be reached at 
kmwblue@umich.edu

KATE WEILAND
Daily News Editor

GOVERNMENT

Governor Gretchen Whitmer 

(D) presented a $74.1 billion 
election-year 
budget 
plan 

Wednesday to support Michigan 
and “invest in the success of our 
future”

In the bill, Whitmer suggested 

one-time 
funding 
increases 

of 5% for all public Michigan 
universities 
and 
community 

colleges, 
totaling 
to 
$76.3 

million. The bill also includes 
a 5% ongoing funding increase, 
which is another $76.3 million of 
continued funding for operations. 
This money, plus $200 million 
more, will be used for everyday 
campus use such as technology, 
infrastructure, maintenance and 
equipment. 

For other community colleges 

in Michigan, the budget will 
award a $16.2 million one-
time increase and $16.2 million 
ongoing 
funding. 
This 
is 
a 

significant increase from the 
stagnant budget that has not 
changed in the past few years. 

The plan will also provide $1 

billion for K-12 funding. This 
funding will be used for the 
creation of infrastructure and 
modernization of buildings. Each 
district will be awarded $170 
million annually for other future 
projects. 

“It 
would 
make 
game-

changing investments in every 
student, in every district, fund 
school construction and mental 

health at a historic scale, and 

retain hundreds of thousands of 
school staff,” Whitmer said in 
a press release obtained by the 
Michigan Daily. “The budget 
makes schools safer, helps every 

student be a better student, helps 
every teacher be a great teacher, 
and helps our kids be kids.”

Whitmer also said she is 

putting an emphasis on mental 
health with this bill and plans to 
support teachers more financially 
by providing bonuses of $11,000 
for school employees who stay in 
their jobs through 2025. 

In 
addition 
to 
students, 

Whitmer’s budget is set-up 
to offer tax relief for senior 
citizens and low-wage workers. 
According to her plan, the 
government would start with a 
25% tax reduction for citizens 
65 years of age and higher. 
As time goes on, she hopes to 
increase the reductions and 
decrease the age requirement, 
overall saving taxpayers about 
$1,000 a year. 

Whitmer 
has 
set 
aside 

$88 
million 
towards 
the 

Unemployment 
Insurance 

System, following suggestions 
from her predecessor, Governor 
Rick Snyder (R).

According 
to 
her 
press 

release, 
Whitmer’s 
budget 

recommendation 
“puts 

Michiganders first and delivers 
on the issues that matter most to 
Michigan families.”

Whitmer’s 
entire 
budget 

is a 10.4% increase from her 
previously-proposed plan early 
last year. According to the U.S. 
News, the extra money has come 
from federal payments to state 
governments 
in 
response 
to 

COVID-19, and high tax revenue. 

The extra money will go to a 

variety of different funds, from 
dental services to psychiatric 
facilities to water quality. 

Daily Staff Reporter Ashna 

Mehra 
can 
be 
reached 
at 

ashmehra@umich.edu 

ASHNA MEHRA
Daily Staff Reporter

Ann Arbor City Council met 

Tuesday 
night 
to 
approve 
an 

amendment to a resolution proposing 
changes to East Medical Center 
Drive Bridge near the University of 
Michigan Medical Center. 

The council previously approved 

a resolution in October 2021 to 
establish a services agreement with 
DLZ Michigan, an architectural and 
engineering consulting firm, to widen 
the bridge, a four-lane road over the 
Amtrak Michigan line and the main 
route to the University of Michigan 
Medical Center. 

University officials have previously 

told City Council they are interested 
in adding another lane for automobile 
traffic, which would reduce the west 
sidewalk from 10 1/2 feet to eight feet 
wide. According to Michael Rein, the 
University’s director of community 
relations, the reduction in width of 
the west sidewalk was designed to 
promote safer bicycle traffic.

“That reduction from 10 1/2 to eight 

feet was by design to promote traffic 
on the east side — safer bicycle traffic, 
safer non-motorized traffic,” Rein said.

Rackham 
student 
Bethany 

Beekly told the council during public 
commentary 
that 
the 
proposed 

design would make the bridge more 
dangerous for bicycle and pedestrian 
traffic, as well as threaten Ann Arbor’s 
goals to decrease carbon emissions 
and cut vehicle miles traveled in half. 

“As it currently stands … the bridge 

widening proposal is inadequate on 
pedestrian and cyclist safety and also 
counterproductive for our climate 
goals,” Beekly said. “Trying to solve 
congestion issues by increasing car 
capacity is a strategy that we’ve known 
for decades to be counterproductive.”

Councilmember 
Erica 
Briggs, 

D-Ward 5, proposed an amendment 
asking the council to encourage the 
city administrator to proceed with 

efforts to rehabilitate the bridge 
without widening it if an agreement 
cannot be made with the University 
to expand sidewalks on either side of 
the road. 

Briggs expressed that if this 

amendment 
was 
not 
passed, 

she would be in favor of simply 
rehabilitating the bridge rather than 
widening it. 

“It’s important to note that the 

city’s plans do not call for widening 
this bridge,” Briggs said. “Our 
(Capital Improvement Plan) called 
for rehabilitation. City staff has 
expressed no concerns with simply 
rehabilitating the bridge and not 
widening. The desire to widen this 
infrastructure has come from the 
University of Michigan.”

Councilmember Jen Eyer, D-Ward 4, 

expressed her support for the amendment, 
emphasizing the safety concerns. 

“A vote against this amendment 

is a vote to make this situation more 
dangerous,” Eyer said. 

Ultimately, 
Briggs’ 
proposed 

amendment 
failed 
5-6 
with 

councilmembers Eyer, Briggs, Jeff 
Hayner, D-Ward 1, Linh Song, 
D-Ward 2, and Julie Grand, D-Ward 
3, voting in favor. 

Briggs noted that the proposed 

changes would make the sidewalk 
on the west side narrower, noting the 
dangers this would cause to cyclists 
and pedestrians.

“There are more cyclists on the 

western side of that intersection 
than on the eastern side, and that’s 
for a reason,” Briggs said. “(Cyclists 
are) trying to avoid the dangerous 
conditions that are along Fuller and 
Glen and regardless of what the 
University suggests, people are taking 
West Medical Center Drive because 
it’s safer. They could reroute in the 
future … we could ask that of them. Or 
we could ask the University to pay to 
do this project properly.”

City Council approves bridge 
widening near U-M hospital

Project greenlit despite protests over 

pedestrian safety, environmental impact

AUDREY CLAYTON

Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

NEWS

