In her annual state of the state speech, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) tried to sell her vision of a revived Michigan economy built on the success of environmentally friendly industries. But in the meantime, Granholm spoke of a pared-down and shaken-up state government.
She suggested closing three prisons, cutting off public funding to both state fairs, trimming elected officials’ salaries by 10 percent and reducing the number of state agencies to eight from 18.
“Any honest assessment of our state’s economy has to recognize that things are likely to get worse before they get better. But if there is one thing I want you, the citizens of Michigan, to know this evening, it is this: Things will get better,” she said.
Speaking to members of a Democratic-controlled House and Republican-held Senate, Granholm also pitched ideas to spur the growth of clean energy industries in the Great Lakes State.
She proposed a requirement that 45 percent of Michigan’s electricity come from sources other than fossil fuels by 2020. The governor also wants to change the way electric rates are set to encourage conservation, to allow customers to sell power from solar panels and windmills back to the electric grid and to find alternatives to building new coal plants.
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