Senate District 5 Updates

Mar 17, 2023 | Email

Friends, 

I hope this newsletter reaches you and your family safe and healthy despite the recent cold weather we have been having. Although spring is around the corner, let’s all remember to practice caution on the roads and properly dress for the weather.  

Featured in this newsletter: 

  • Addressing recent power outages in District 5 
  • Gov. Whitmer signs Lowering MI Costs Plan into law 
  • Senate Repeals Archaic 1931 Abortion Ban 
  • Gov. Whitmer and Wayne State University announce initiative to lower cost of college 
  • Supplemental Budget investments in Michigan 
  • State awards $3.6 million for invasive species projects 

Should you need any help, please do not hesitate to contact my office by phone at (517) 373-7350 or by email at SenDPolehanki@senate.michigan.gov. 

Dayna Polehanki
State Senator
District 5

ADDRESSING RECENT POWER OUTAGES IN DISTRCT 5 

I have been communicating with DTE nonstop since the winter storms left many residents without power. We worked to get power restored at schools, intersections, and residences in Senate District 5. 

Livonia, Westland, Garden City, and Inkster sustained the most significant damage after these storms. 

Please know that I asked to be on the Energy Committee in the Michigan Senate in order to have a seat at the table as we work to fix this colossal mess. I will be participating in an Energy Committee hearing investigating the outages on Thursday, March 23, at 8:30 a.m. at the Capitol. 

MPSC is holding a series of Town Halls to take public comment on outages from recent winter storms 

The Michigan Public Service Commission has scheduled a series of public town hall meetings to hear from those impacted by power outages that left hundreds of thousands of Michiganders without electricity after recent ice and snowstorms across the Lower Peninsula. 

The MPSC will hold two in-person town halls in areas hard hit by the ice storm on March 20. Details are below: 

WHEN: March 20, 2023, from 12 – 2:30 p.m.
WHERE: American 1 Credit Union Event Center, 128 W. Ganson St, Jackson, MI 49201 

WHEN: March 20, 2023, from 5:30 – 8 p.m.
WHERE: Fordson High School’s auditorium, 13800 Ford Road in Dearborn, MI 48126 

The MPSC also will hold a virtual town hall meeting, livestreamed over Microsoft Teams, March 21, 6-8 p.m. A link to participate through Microsoft Teams will be posted closer to the day of the virtual town hall at the event’s webpage.

In addition to attending the in-person or virtual town halls, written comments also may be submitted to the MPSC by mail to Executive Secretary, Michigan Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 30221, Lansing, MI 48909, or by email to mpscedockets@michigan.gov.

GOV. WHITMER SIGNS LOWERING MI COSTS PLAN INTO LAW, CUTTING TAXES BY $1 BILLION FOR WORKING FAMILIES AND SENIORS  

Last week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the Lowering MI Costs plan, one of the biggest tax relief initiatives Michigan has seen in decades. The plan will overhaul the unfair and unpopular retirement tax, expand the Working Families Tax Credit, and make significant investments in housing and community development. 

By expanding the Working Families Tax Credit to 30 percent of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, 700,000 Michiganders—those who have the hardest time affording the basics—will see an average of $3,150 dollars back in their pockets. Phasing out the unfair and unpopular retirement tax over four years will ultimately put an average of $1,000 back in the pockets of 500,000 households. The Lowering MI Costs plan also invests $50 million of surplus tax revenue in the state’s Housing and Community Development Fund, which prioritizes projects offering veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, and working families safe, affordable places to call home. This is significant, sustainable and ongoing dedicated funding to affordable housing. 

 

SENATE REPEALS ARCHAIC 1931 ABORTION BAN, ENSURE ABORTION IS KEPT SAFE 

On International Women’s Day, the Michigan Senate Democrats passed much-needed legislation to repeal Michigan’s 1931 statute that criminalizes abortion care and related acts.   

The Senate bills passed today are:   

  • Senate Bill 2 (Geiss), which repeals the 1931 ban on contraception and other information about reproductive health (by repealing section 40 of 1931 PA 328); 
  • Senate Bill 37 (Bayer), which would update the code of criminal procedure;    
  • Senate Bill 39 (Geiss), which repeals Section 14 of 1931 PA 328 that criminalizes providing an abortion.  
  • Senate Bill 93 (Anthony), which repeals penalties for the sale of drugs or medicine to procure a miscarriage. 
Almost 2.5 million Michiganders—56.7 percent of voters—voted this fall to create a constitutional right to reproductive freedom and protect women, their bodies and their rights. The most urgent and pertinent part of fulfilling the public’s will on Proposal 3 is repealing the 1931 ban on abortion, without exceptions for rape and incest, and related statutes. When this archaic and dangerous law was passed, women had only had the federal right to vote for a little over a decade. The legislation was drafted and enacted by an entirely male Legislature. With this legislation, we are telling Michigan women and their nurses and doctors that we trust them to make these deeply personal decisions, and we’re doing that by getting rid of this harmful area of the law that says otherwise.

GOV. WHITMER JOINS WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY TO ANNOUNCE NEW INITIATIVE, LOWERING THE COST OF COLLEGE 

Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined Wayne State University officials to announce the Wayne State Guarantee, a new initiative offering incoming Michigan students with family incomes of $70,000 or less a tuition-free degree with zero out-of-pocket expenses. The program will begin in the fall of 2023 and cover the full cost of tuition and standard fees. This is made possible thanks to the bipartisan Michigan Achievement Scholarship program, which Governor Whitmer signed into law in 2022, saving students up to $8,250 on their associate degree at a community college, up to $20,000 at a private college, or up to $27,500 at a public university. 

Who’s Eligible for the Wayne State Guarantee  

  • Incoming first-year undergraduates who are Michigan residents admitted for fall 2023 as a first-time undergraduate in a degree-program.  
  • Household income of $70,000 or less and assets of $50,000 or less as confirmed on the 2023-24 FAFSA.  
  • Michigan residents eligible for the Pell grant in 2023-24 are also eligible.  
  • Must be enrolled full time (12 or more credit hours per semester) each semester. Funding is for the fall and winter semesters.  
  • WSU must receive your 2023-24 FAFSA by April 1, 2023, and be eligible to receive federal student aid.  
  • Must be admitted to WSU by April 1, 2023.  
The Wayne State Guarantee covers the full cost of tuition and standard fees (matriculation, registration, and student service fees) with a combination of federal, state, and other WSU scholarships and grants. The award is renewable for up to four years, with the option to apply for a fifth year if the student is on track to graduate in that year.  
 

SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET INVESTMENTS IN MICHIGAN 

Last week, my colleagues and I passed a $1.34 billion supplemental appropriations package that contains funding for a number of important priorities, including: water affordability, hospital staffing retention, nursing home rate increases, health workforce stabilization, community violence intervention, housing, and community and neighborhood grants.   

 

STATE AWARDS $3.6 MILLION FOR INVASIVE SPECIES PROJECTS 

The state of Michigan announced that 35 projects will share $3.6 million in grants through the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program. 

The program – cooperatively implemented by the Michigan departments of Agriculture and Rural Development; Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy; and Natural Resources – addresses prevention, detection, eradication and control of aquatic (water-based) and terrestrial (land-based) invasive species in Michigan through four key objectives: 
  • Preventing the introduction of new invasive species. 
  • Strengthening the statewide invasive species early detection and response network. 
  • Limiting the spread of recently confirmed invasive species. 
  • Managing and controlling widespread, established invasive species. 
  • This year’s grantees have offered $532,300 in matching funds and services to support these projects, leveraging a total investment of $4,132,300. 
The full list of grant recipients, project descriptions and award amounts is available on the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program website at Michigan.gov/MISGP.