LANSING, MI — The new 2026 state budget includes roughly $50 million in earmarks to local governments around Michigan to upgrade water and sewer systems, rebuild dams, build trails and expand parks.

Michigan lawmakers approved the pet projects in a $81 billion budget passed overnight on Friday, Oct. 3 , which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign this week.

The earmarks are among roughly $160 million in new, legislatively-directed pet spending approved alongside new reforms that prohibit such earmarks from going to for-profit recipients and which require lawmakers to publicly sponsor and justify them.

The local money is distributed by state departments, which house and disburse the funds but exclude the money from base program budgets.

The largest standalone item is $20 million s

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