Senator Dayna Polehanki
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Sen. Polehanki Comments on Gov. Whitmer’s 2024 State of the State Address
LANSING, Mich. (Jan. 24, 2024) — Sen. Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia) issued the following statement in response to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “State of the State” address tonight and her proposal to provide Pre-K and postsecondary attainment for every Michigan public school...
District 5: Happy New Year!
Dear Neighbor, I hope you had an amazing holiday season and are enjoying the new year! In 2023, the Senate Majority intentionally created successful outcomes for the people of Michigan. As 2024 begins, I am looking forward to another year of legislative progress and...
Gov. Whitmer Announces Grants for Before- and After- School Programs
$50M in grants expands access to affordable, engaging before, after, and summer school opportunities for over 67,000 students at 780 locations across the state LANSING, Mich. – Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education,...
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Senator Polehanki Asks Colleagues to Vote Yes on SB 911
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ICYMI: There are a couple of things that have happened at the federal level that I'd like to put on your radar:
1) The Biden Administration has mandated that medical debt can no longer be used in your credit score to buy a home or car or start a small business.
"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule will remove $49 billion in medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, according to the bureau, which means lenders will no longer be able to take that into consideration when deciding whether to issue a loan.
The change is estimated to raise the credit scores by an average of 20 points and could lead to 22,000 additional mortgages being approved every year, according to the bureau."
Source: www.cbsnews.com/news/medical-debt-credit-reports-biden-administration-rule/
2) Teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees will finally, after 40 years, receive the FULL social security benefit they paid into as a result of the Biden Administration signing the Social Security Fairness Act. This act repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset.
"Recipients who were [negatively] affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision can expect their monthly benefits to increase by an average of $360 by December, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Also by December, some spouses who were [negatively] affected by the Government Pension Offset are anticipated to receive an average monthly increase of $700 and surviving spouses receiving a widow or widower benefit a monthly average of $1,190, according to the CBO."
Source: www.npr.org/2025/01/06/nx-s1-5249689/social-security-fairness-act-biden-signed ... See MoreSee Less
9 CommentsComment on Facebook
These are both great! I am personally affected by the SS Fairness Act, because I taught in Illinois for 9 years before moving to SE Michigan (year 21 in education and counting). WEP/GPO would have decreased my SS payments despite all of the money I have paid in. So many advocates worked so hard on this for so many years.
Thanks for sharing explanations
Any progress on State House Bill 5167?
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Seven years ago today, I was a high school English teacher who threw my hat in the ring for an open state senate seat.
I feel incredibly fortunate to be State Senator for Michigan’s 5th District. ... See MoreSee Less
37 CommentsComment on Facebook
So awesome to see you go from being my English teacher to you advocating for others! 😊
I was lucky to have you as my English teacher and now I’m lucky to have you as a state senator. You’re doing great things. Thank you for everything! 🩷
Congratulation. please do something about the medical cap. We are drowning in medical contributions.
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I am incredibly proud to be a cosponsor of a new law that increases weekly unemployment checks from $362 to $446 per week this year and then to $614 per week in 2027.
It's the first increase in unemployment compensation since 2003.
The law also allows out-of-work Michiganders to be able to claim up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits — an increase from the current 20 weeks.
(In 2011, then Republican Governor Snyder cut 6 weeks: from 26 weeks to 20 weeks; we reversed that back to 26 weeks).
All Senate Democrats voted yes along with one Senate Republican. All other Senate Republicans voted no. ... See MoreSee Less
6 new laws take effect in Michigan in 2025: What to know
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Michigan residents will have to adjust to a number of new laws that could affect them in 2025. Here's a look at what's new and on the way.2 CommentsComment on Facebook
Thank you for this impactful change for those unfortunate enough to suffer layoffs and other causes of job loss that are out of a person’s control. Families rely on Cobra to continue receiving health care and it is incredibly expensive.
Youre actually bragging about paying people not to work!? Typical economic and moral illiterate