LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Attorney General Dana Nessel has led Michigan’s response in the battle against cutting federal government jobs.
Nessel filed a lawsuit in February against Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. Nessel was part of a group of state attorneys general taking action to stop Musk from his cost-cutting.
MORE NEWS: Radio Still Rules the Road, Study Finds
But DOGE is only looking at federal jobs.
Across Michigan, many local municipalities and state agencies have experienced record-levels of revenue, in part due to the federal pandemic funding.
Nessel’s AG office has been part of that trend and has seen record levels of growth in terms of the workforce.
Nessel took office in 2019 and started with a staff of 531 full-time jobs. This year, her office had 621 full-time jobs, which is the most since records go back to 2000-01 for the Senate Fiscal Agency.
What makes the increase notable in Nessel’s case is that the growth in her office was based on a huge infusion of state dollars, not federal pandemic money.
For example, in 2023-24, the state dollars from the general fund in Nessel’s budget jumped to $76.2 million, a $24.8 million increase or 48% from the previous year.
In a 2023 press release, Nessel applauded the infusion of state dollars. She said some of the extra money was needed to address backlogs.