Hello Neighbor,
I hope you and your family are beginning to wind down 2023 and get some much deserved rest as we enter the holiday season. With this being our last e-Newsletter of the calendar year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of our legislative accomplishments, community conversations and everything that’s been done to move District 4 forward.
Before we jump into our recap, I also want to thank you for your support and engagement in our work both at home and in Lansing. I’m incredibly honored to serve our seventeen communities, from Wayne to Wyandotte, and I look forward to working on what’s next in 2024.
As always, my office is available to answer your questions and provide assistance with any number of issues. Please do not hesitate to contact us or call my office at 517-373-7918 if you are in need of help.
In Solidarity,
Darrin Camilleri
State Senator
District 4
Year in Review
After last year’s historic election where Democrats took control of the State Legislature for the first time in 40 years, we knew we had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to undo harmful policies and enact change to protect working people and move our state forward. My colleagues and I hit the ground running when we began our legislative session in January, passing a record-breaking amount of legislation in the first 100 days.
Some highlights include:
- Repealing the pension tax and putting more money back into the pockets of older Michiganders.
- Expanding the Working Families Tax Credit.
- Adding civil protections for our LGBTQ+ neighbors by banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Repealing the 1931 abortion ban.
- Passing common sense firearm legislation that keeps Michiganders safer.
- Restoring workers’ rights, repealing the law that weakened organized labor across our state for over a decade by restricting the ability of workers to collectively bargain. I was proud to be the main sponsor of this bill and stand up for unions here in Michigan.
As we completed this historic start to the year, we kept our momentum going and continued to deliver for our neighbors in Downriver and Western Wayne. With budget negotiations occurring in the Senate and House, I fought to make sure that we were investing in our communities and tackling some of our district’s biggest challenges.
Appropriations we secured for District 4 include:
- $20 million for the Grosse Ile Free Bridge.
- $20 million towards a rail grade separation on Fort Street in Trenton.
- $10.7 million for the Downriver CTE Consortium to help expand programs that allow high school students to get hands-on vocational education and experience.
- $10 million to repair the Denton Road Bridge in Belleville.
- $10 million towards a statewide rail grade separation program, which will help fix more train crossing issues across Michigan.
- $4.9 million to replace lead service lines in Wayne to ensure that all residents have access to safe, clean water.
- $2 million for the Downriver Community Conference’s Resiliency Center.
- $1 million to help modernize hospital equipment at Beaumont Hospital in Wayne.
- $1 million for Romulus’ Career and Technical Education programs.
- $400,000 for lead service line replacement in Gibraltar.
Additionally, I was proud to chair the Senate PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, where I was tasked with shaping our state’s education budget. As a former educator, one of my top priorities was including the voices of educators, students and families in the budget process to ensure that our students are reaching their academic potential and that our educators are supported by their state leaders.
I was thrilled that we were able to create programs that established free breakfast and lunch for all Michigan public school students, fully fund special education and provide student debt relief to teachers in our communities. Additionally, our schools received the highest per-pupil funding in our state’s history, and we instituted a new funding model called the Opportunity Index to make sure students with the highest need are receiving the most resources.
Other legislative accomplishments I was proud to be a part of include:
- Passing the Clean Energy Future Plan bill package, which puts Michigan on track to be a nationwide leader in renewable energy.
- Introducing legislation to establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board so that we can end the price gouging of medication and hold pharmaceutical companies accountable.
- Introducing legislation to require FAFSA completion in order to graduate (with key opt-outs) which will allow more students to receive financial aid and create more opportunities for students to access higher education.
Needless to say, we stayed very busy in Lansing this year working on behalf of District 4. This work could not be done without staying engaged with our neighbors and local leaders, and we made sure to prioritize being present and involved in community conversations throughout the year to hear from you about how I can best serve as your State Senator. Since taking office in January, we have hosted 14 town halls and coffee hours, had over 10,000 conversations with constituents via phone and email and helped hundreds of our neighbors resolve matters that involve our state departments.
I’m incredibly grateful for all of our local elected officials and leaders who work tirelessly on behalf of their communities, and I look forward to continuing to stay involved in each of our seventeen municipalities across District 4.
I hope that you will continue to stay engaged with my office as we get ready for another busy legislative session in 2024. If you have any questions or comments on legislation, community issues or any matter that is important to you, please feel free to reach out to my office here. There will be many more in-district events in the year, and I encourage you to join us in these conversations the next time we visit your community.