Give Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Legislature a quiet round of applause for completing the state budget earlier this month. The Legislature is split — Republicans control the House and Democrats have the Senate — so agreeing on how to spend $81 billion took negotiation and tradeoffs. But passing a budget is a minimum expectation for lawmakers.

Now that it’s complete, what issues should lawmakers prioritize? Three ideas: Cut red tape, improve housing regulations and expand government transparency. The budgeting process showed that state leaders can work together despite divided government. Any new legislation needs to thread the same bipartisan needle.

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