2023 In Review: Fair Shots, Brighter Futures & Freedom

Dec 28, 2023 | Email

Friends & Neighbors, 

As I reflect upon my first year as your State Senator, I want to thank you for your engagement and the honor of representing our Great Lakes Bay community’s nearly 278,000 constituents. 

This 2023 In Review newsletter recaps the major work our Democratic Majority accomplished this year including enormous progress on kitchen table issues — delivering $1 billion in tax relief for Michigan’s working families and seniors, restoring workers’ rights and making our schools and communities stronger, safer and healthier. It highlights my top legislative and budget achievements and our office’s constituent outreach. 

Looking to 2024, my team and I will continue to work relentlessly as we have from day one, engaging with residents and leaders across our district, taking what we learn to Lansing, protecting fundamental freedoms and prioritizing real results on real issues. 

Wishing you and yours a healthy and happy 2024, 

Kristen McDonald RivetState SenatorDistrict 35(517) 373-1725PO Box 30036Lansing, MI. 48909SenKMcDonaldRivet@senate.michigan.gov

 

2023: Working for Fair Shots, Brighter Futures and Freedom 

 

Fair Shots 

Our first Democratic trifecta in forty years took significant steps toward restoring the American promise and fair shot opportunities that grew increasingly out of reach for too many hard-working families during those decades. We worked to make better lives more affordable, give every kid a strong educational foundation and create more paths to higher paying jobs in Michigan. 

We passed Michigan’s largest tax break in decades. Quintupling the Earned Income Tax Credit for Working Families gives an average combined annual tax refund of $3,150 to parents of half our state’s children. Beginning February 13, 2024, more than 700,000 Michigan families will automatically receive checks for the increased credit for tax year 2022. Eligible families should file as usual to claim the full credit in tax year 2023. 

We also rolled back the retirement tax which will save our seniors an annual average of $1,000. Together, the retirement tax repeal and my Working Families Tax Credit expansion will deliver $1 billion to Michigan workers and retirees each year. 

We saved young families money and time. My amendment to expand free PreK saves eligible families $10,000 a year. Universal free school meals save families $850 a year in groceries plus valuable time each morning. 

We did right by our middle-class workers. Restoring Workers’ Rights and prevailing wage are essential to grow the middle class. We delivered these protections and put Michigan men and women in a better position to fight for better pay, benefits and work conditions. 

We took necessary steps to improve education outcomes. Restructuring the over-burdensome, over-regulated educator evaluation process was long overdue, and I’m glad to have helped lead that reform. It will help retain and attract quality educators, as will the student loan help from the stipends we approved for public school teachers and K-12 student teachers. We also fully funded special education for the first time ever, boosted early literacy efforts and made historic investments to reverse decades of disinvestment in public schools.  

We created more affordable paths to higher paying jobs. To increase uptake of higher ed offerings and vocational training that result in better paying wages, we expanded tuition-free paths to those programs. We also boosted support for small businesses to equip their employees with essential skills. 

 

Brighter Futures 

We all want to be safe and healthy enough to thrive in our futures. This is true for our people and planet. To give Michigan and our residents the best chance in the future, we also need to make strategic policy and investment decisions so more people pick us as where they want to live, study, play and do business. Below are actions we took in 2023 to build on fair foundations and help every Michigander reach a brighter future.  

Preventing Gun Violence and Protecting Domestic Violence Survivors — The first Public Act with my name on it protects kids from their number one cause of death — gun violence. Requiring firearm storage around children was part of the commonsense safeguards we passed, along with expanding background checks to more gun sales and extreme risk protection order or “red flag” legislation. We also gave prosecutors stronger enforcement tools and penalties around convicted domestic abusers and firearm possession. 

Investing for Safer, Healthier Communities — Suicide prevention services, first responder and public safety programs all received budget boosts this year. We funded Community Violence Intervention programs across Michigan with $10.8M in initial grants and Operation Safe Neighborhoods continues to get illegal firearms off streets.  

Mental Health & School Safety — We approved $328M to fund school activities toward improving mental health and placing mental health professionals in schools. An additional $6M specifically targets early identification of concerning behaviors in students. 

Preventing Sexual Assault Under Pretext of Medical Care — We boosted state laws regarding sexual assault in medical settings to strengthen patients’ rights, hold sexual predators accountable and better support survivors. 

Protecting Health Care Coverage, Ending Drugmaker Immunity and Lowering Costs — We codified key Affordable Care Act provisions so that state law will protect Michiganders regardless of federal changes. We repealed the misguided policy that prioritized drugmaker immunity over people’s health and made oral chemo out-of-pockets costs similar to traditional chemotherapy. 

Lowering Prescription Drug Prices and Correcting Unintended Consequences of Auto-No Fault Insurance Reform — This legislation passed the Senate in 2023. I will continue fighting for these measures in 2024 until they reach the Governor’s desk.  

Investing In Clean Energy for our Economic, Health and Climate Futures — We passed the Clean Energy & Jobs Act to move away from the status quo that has hurt our pocketbooks, people and planet for decades and toward energy diversification and independence. With reasonable regulations in place to protect communities, this legislation returns choice to local landowners who have been blocked from using their land as they see fit to earn income. It will lower energy costs, bring back billions of federal tax dollars for our clean energy transition, create new jobs that pay well and protect our natural resource assets and Michiganders’ health. 

Positioning Michigan to Win the Future — At every opportunity, we advanced policy and budget investments that would retain and attract top talent and high-paying employers. That included prioritizing placemaking and housing. Our Great Lakes Bay Region is receiving $8M of the $99.2M awarded statewide through the Revitalization and Placemaking (RAP) Grant Program. We approved significant funds for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and its incubator, the Housing and Community Development Fund. My bill to give MSHDA and local authorities flexibility to address “missing middle” housing passed the Senate this year; I’ll work to get that crucial legislation to the Governor in 2024.  

 

Freedom We can’t thrive without freedom. Our freedoms and fundamental rights are only as secure as the laws protecting them and the democratic processes by which we elect and hold our lawmakers accountable. We took action on all these fronts in 2023 — codifying the three ballot initiatives voters strongly supported in November 2022, repealing archaic measures and expanding civil rights.

Protecting Women’s Freedom to Decide — To codify Proposal 2022-3, passed overwhelmingly by the people of our state, we repealed Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban and established a right to abortion in our state constitution. We repealed most of the remaining arbitrary, burdensome and outdated laws restricting access to pregnancy and abortion care to ensure that right can be exercised. 

Protecting Children, Empowering Consenting Adults — We repealed child marriage provisions which enabled child abuse and archaic cohabitation laws which prohibited unmarried couples from living together. 

Ensuring Freedom from Discrimination in Housing and Employment — We added LGBTQ+ and CROWN Act anti-discrimination protections to our state’s civil rights law, the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act. 

Strengthening Voting Access and Security — The legislation implementing Proposal 2022-2 delivered what voters overwhelmingly said they wanted: more days of early in-person voting, more drop boxes, one-and-done absentee voter applications and more. Additional legislation signed November 30 improves election efficiency, increases voter registration opportunities, protects election workers and provides equal access to the ballot box.  

Financial Transparency for our Elected Officials — To codify Proposal 2022-1, we passed measures to finally end Michigan’s status as one of only two states where lawmakers didn’t have to file any type of public report about their personal finances. Disclosure requirements apply to both candidates and office holders and include disclosure of assets shared jointly with spouses. 

 

My Top Legislative Work 

  1. Quintupling the Earned Income Tax Credit for Working Families. This half a billion-dollar boost to the tightest household budgets and local economies was my day one priority. Delivering this relief for our working families and the million Michigan kids in those households is my top accomplishment of 2023.
  2. Preventing Sexual Assault in Medical Settings. For years, advocates and survivors fought for measures to ensure patients’ rights, empower survivors and demand accountability. I was grateful to sponsor one of the bills in the bipartisan legislative package that finally achieved this. 
  3. Protecting Our Kids from Gun Violence. It is unacceptable that gun violence kills more kids in our country than cancer or car accidents. My first standalone bill signed into law requires firearm storage around children. Prosecutors can now hold irresponsible owners accountable when unsupervised kids access unsecured guns and cause harm. 
  4. Protecting Farms Opting For Solar. My pro-farmer, pro-property rights, pro-environment bill in the Clean Energy & Jobs Act received bipartisan backing and support from agricultural, economic and environmental organizations across the political spectrum. By allowing heritage farm owners to diversify revenue sources, they can keep their farms viable to pass onto future generations while promoting solar operations that help our state’s clean energy transition.  
  5. Reforming Educator Evaluations. Getting back to teachers prioritizing student needs instead of ‘teaching to the test’ is another personal legislative highlight. 

I also championed legislation expanding access to affordable housing through brownfield redevelopment and adding projects eligible for Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy financing. These pro-economy, pro-environment bills were signed into law by Gov. Whitmer last summer. 

 

Budget Wins for our District   

My team and I secured over $160 million for targeted infrastructure, economic development and education projects in our district which will help more families, businesses and high-paying industries see our Great Lakes Bay Region as the place where they want to be.  

Constituent Pulse & Outreach

Stay Connected  

We believe in our work, and we believe it’s essential to tell the story of what we do, who is impacted and why it matters. Please share this 2023 Review with your networks and neighbors and encourage them to sign up for our regular newsletters.   

Our website, social media and constituent hours are also great ways to learn and share about our work in-district and in Lansing. Thank you for staying connected and helping us grow our constituent outreach. 

 

 

  • Phone: (517) 373-1725 | Email: SenKMcDonaldRivet@senate.michigan.gov 
  • Social Media: Social media sites are neither official government websites nor are they well suited for constituent correspondence. However, since we post frequently, social media can be a very timely way to access news and information. Visit my Facebook page here.