By AMY FRANKLIN

Associated Press Writer

Lawmakers Tuesday approved cutting nearly $320 million from the state's budget to help resolve its deficit. The cuts could mean layoffs for about 590 state workers, a budget official said.

The GOP-controlled House and Senate appropriations committees voted to approve the budget cuts in an executive order by Republican Gov. John Engler after it was presented by state Budget Director Don Gilmer.

``Many of these cuts seem gut-wrenching,'' Gilmer said. ``I don't expect anyone will like 100 percent of this.''

In addition to cutting $319.1 million from state departments, the executive order also allows the state to use $144.6 million in leftover funds to help solve the nearly $850 million budget shortfall.

According to the Detroit News, welfare and health programs took the biggest hits in the 2001-02 budget. Aid to public schools and colleges was left untouched, however, and a tenth-of-a-percent reduction in the state income tax remains intact.

Gilmer said the state Department of Corrections is expected to be the hardest hit by layoffs as its $1.7 billion budget was reduced by $54.9 million.

The department will close the 639-prisoner Jackson Maximum Correctional Facility by year's end, said Matt Davis, department spokesman. The department also plans to close two low-security facilities in Pontiac and Emmet County, he said.

According to the Grand Rapids Press, road and bridge building will take a $63 million hit because the cost of collecting vehicle registration fees and gas taxes will be paid from those revenues and not tax revenue. Road and bridge projects for 2002 remain unchanged, but some proposed for 2003 and 2004 will probably be eliminated, transportation spokesman Ari Adler told the Press.

The Department of Community Health budget, which funds Medicaid, will lose $101 million, or one percent, of its $2.6 billion budget under the executive order, Gilmer said. He stressed that that the order doesn't include any across-the-board cuts for Medicaid providers.

The state's Family Independence Agency, which operates the state's child support system, would lose $27.5 million of its overall $3.8 billion budget under the cuts.

The cuts are intended to reduce the $500 million deficit in the state's $9.3 billion general fund budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The school aid budget will be about $330 million short of meeting the $11.5 billion school aid budget.

Engler requested the Legislature approve an additional $21.9 million in state funds to cover increasing Medicaid costs. He also wants $70 million for the health and social services departments to help poor families, seniors and disabled populations during the economic slowdown.

But Engler cut the state's welfare to work programs by $1.5 million in his executive order.

Democratic Sen. Alma Wheeler-Smith, of Washtenaw County's Salem Township, said the budget cuts don't help the shortfall lawmakers face again next year.

``What we're doing is fixing this year and leaving a huge hole for fiscal 2003,'' she said after voting against the executive order.

Smith, who's running to be governor next year, said next year legislators will have to consider cutting school and higher education budgets--spending plans that weren't cut under Engler's order.

Although the appropriations committees quickly voted on the order, they had 10 days after receiving an executive order to either approve the cuts or turn them down.

Engler is expected to sign a bill that would also allow the state to use up to $540 million from the Budget Stabilization Fund to cover shortfalls in the state's general fund and School Aid Fund.

The bill would leave the state's rainy-day fund with about $520 million, Gilmer said. He recommended against using any additional money from the rainy day fund to resolve the budget deficit.