Dear Friends,
The year 2020 will be one that none of us will forget for the rest of our lives. Several of us have tragically lost friends and loved ones due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many are still struggling to make financial ends meet, trying to ensure their children are protected at school, and making sure they have the resources to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
The struggles of all Michiganders have been weighing heavily on my mind, and I want to specifically note that YOU — and your family — are who I fight for every day in Lansing.
In this newsletter, you will find updates about legislation I have being working on, as well as information from the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration I served on, and resources related to COVID-19 that I hope you find helpful.
Working for you,
State Senator
3rd District
Toll-free: (855) 347-8003
Website: SenatorSantana.com
Email: SenSSantana@senate.michigan.gov
Jail & Pretrial Incarceration TASK FORCE
Earlier this year, the bipartisan Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration issued its report on how to expand alternatives to jail, safely reduce jail admissions and length of stay, and improve Michigan’s justice system. Reforming the system has been work I’ve been close to ever since being elected to office, and I’m proud of our findings.
While the report issued offers many solutions, I am most proud of the work done in the Sentencing, Probation and Parole subgroup that I chaired. Our recommendations would reduce driver’s license suspensions, reclassify some misdemeanors as civil infractions, and amend the law to eliminate mandatory minimums for misdemeanor offenses. There is still much work ahead, but this is a step in the right direction of making a difference for families who have lost a loved one to a system that overly, and inconsistently, prosecutes people of color and the poor.
As such, a bipartisan group of colleagues and I introduced legislation to expand officers’ discretion to issue a citation for low-level offenses, increase the use of alternatives to jail for low-level crimes, and incentivize compliance with probation conditions.
Michigan’s jail population has tripled in just 35 years, and in fact, the Task Force report found that county jails are high-traffic institutions, affecting hundreds of thousands more Michiganders each year than state prisons.
Michigan’s jail growth was driven equally by incarceration of pretrial defendants and those serving a sentence post-conviction. While taxpayers spend nearly half a billion dollars annually on jails, alternatives to jail are underutilized across the state, and Michigan law provides little to no guidance on when alternatives should be the preferred or presumed intervention.
Additional bills introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives reduce driver’s license suspensions for violations unrelated to dangerous driving, eliminate mandatory minimum jail sentences, and decriminalize a variety of low-level traffic offenses — policy changes also recommended by the Task Force.
The policy recommendations developed were informed by more than a dozen stakeholder roundtables, testimony from hundreds of people across the state, 10 years of statewide arrest and court data, and three years of individual-level data from a large and diverse sample of county jails. I am proud to lead the effort in the Senate on this issue that impacts our entire state.
Budget UPDATE
We just completed a difficult budget in Michigan. While early projections predicted $3.2 billion and $2.5 billion budget deficits for the last and current fiscal years, respectively, the actual budget shortfall was better than predicted. COVID-19 made it very difficult for us to balance the budget and there were many difficult decisions that had to be made, but I was still able to fight for funding for our district.
Getting it done for District 3
- Health Care – $23.5 Million for the Maternal Infant Health Program
- Schools – $1.2 Billion in increased COVID-19 funding for schools from the federal CARES Act
- Mental Health – UP TO $4 Million toward Trauma Recovery Centers in Detroit and three other locations around the state
- Domestic Violence $4 Million in increased funding to support survivors of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, which came from my Senate Resolution 115.
Virtual Coffee Hour
I always enjoy the opportunity to hear directly from residents about the issues you care about! My favorite way to do that is to host coffee hours for residents of the 3rd District.
In the spirit of keeping everyone safe and healthy during these unprecedented times, my in-person coffee hours have become virtual conversations that are online.
Check my website for upcoming dates and times, sign up for my e-newsletter at SenatorSantana.com, or call my office at (517) 373-0990 to learn about a future coffee hour so that you can join the conversation safely from your own home or wherever you may be!
2020 by THE NUMBERS
| 1,000+ Constituent Unemployment Cases Resolved | 906 Unemployment Claims Assisted |
| 10 Virtual Coffee Hours | 5 Community Leader Engagement Forums |
| 4 Town Halls Auto Insurance | Voters Education Youth and COVID | Medicare/Medicaid | 2 Senior Town Halls |
Introduced Legislation
| SENATE BILL 698 Modifies habitual offenders’ guidelines to only one felony per occurrence for habitual offense sentence enhancement and only allows for a 10-year look-back. Referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety | SENATE BILL 996 Created a 0% interest loan program for those who are still awaiting payment on unemployment claims. Referred to the Committee on Appropriation |
| SENATE BILLS 700/893/894 Limits confinement to less than 7 days of juveniles for status offenses of truancy, running away, and disobeying parents. Passed the Senate | SENATE BILL 1048 Provides non-jail presumption of sentence for nonviolent misdemeanors. Passed the Senate |
| SENATE BILL 759 Requires the pre-incarceration address of incarcerated persons to be included in the voting district population counts. Referred to the Committee on Elections | SENATE BILL 1163 Requires the mental health diversion commission to recommend training for law enforcement on how to interact with people with mental health issues. Referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety |
| SENATE BILL 772 Requires the Human Trafficking Commission to recommend training on signs of human trafficking for state agencies. Referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety | SENATE RESOLUTION 98 Urges the federal government to require financial institutions to display human trafficking hotline postings. Referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety |
| SENATE BILL 778 Places all constitutional civil rights or federal statutory civil rights claims on property taxes in the courts instead of the Tax Tribunal. Referred to the Committee on Finance | SENATE RESOLUTION 100 A resolution to recognize February 2020 as American Heart Month and February 19, 2020, as “Go Red for Women Day.” Adopted |
| SENATE BILL 905 Bans the display of the Confederate Flag on the grounds of the Capitol. Referred to the Committee on Government Operations | SENATE RESOLUTION 115 Urges Congress to address the unique needs of domestic violence victims and survivors in the next phase of federal stimulus funding in response to COVID-19. Referred to the Committee on Government Operations |
| SENATE BILL 930 Provides whistleblower protections for employees who raise concerns over COVID-19 protections in the workplace. Referred to the Committee on Economic and Small Business Development | SENATE RESOLUTION 136 Urges the governor to ban the display of the Confederate flag from all state properties. Referred to the Committee on Government Operations |
| SENATE BILL 976 Designates Juneteenth (June 19) as an official state holiday. Referred to the Committee on Government Operations | STATE SENATOR SYLVIA SANTANA |
LIVING WITH COVID-19:
SAFE WORKPLACES
This pandemic has forever changed the way we interact in the workplace. While many have been sent home to work remotely, there are still essential workers who must physically report to work daily. Whatever your work environment is, it’s essential that it is safe from COVID-19. That’s why I’ve been working tirelessly with my colleagues in the Senate to create simple protocols for our businesses to stay safe and stay open.
As a part of the Safe Behavior, Safe Workplaces workgroup, and a legislative leader on COVID-19 protocols, we must require a few things of our workplaces:
- Statewide safety standards that are adhered to;
- Masks worn by everyone for the foreseeable future;
- A list of local COVID-19 testing sites provided by employers to their employees;
- Whistleblower protections for employees who complain about an unsafe workplace; and,
- More paid sick leave for employees to use for themselves or their children.
The state also needs to look for ways to provide increased funding for the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration so that they can effectively, and efficiently, respond to workplace safety complaints received.
These simple measures will prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace and also protect employees who are sick. No one should be concerned about their paid sick leave during a pandemic. If they’re sick, they should stay home — and still receive their paycheck, because our economy can’t function if working people are worried about keeping food on the table.
COVID-19 Resources
| Michigan.gov/Coronavirus • Childcare resources • Health care professionals • Community resources | City of Detroit: DetroitMI.gov • Testing times and locations • Food resources • Eviction moratoriums information • Small business-related information on grants |
Download the MI COVID Alert app
As part of the state’s continued efforts to slow the increasing spread of COVID-19, the free and voluntary MI COVID Alert app can let you know whether you’ve been recently exposed to COVID-19. The app works in conjunction with traditional contact tracing, mask-wearing, hand washing and social distancing, but is not a replacement for these precautions or participation in contact tracing.
When a person tests positive for COVID-19, they receive a randomly generated PIN from the local health department or State of Michigan that allows them to anonymously share their test results on the app. A notification from the app means you were possibly within six feet of the positive person for at least 15 minutes.
Every Michigander is encouraged to download the MI COVID Alert app, which is available in your phone’s app store.
SOLVING
COMPLEX PROBLEMS
–TOGETHER–
Task forces are the state’s way of solving complex problems with many stakeholders. I’ve been honored to serve on the Jail and Pretrial Incarceration Task Force, but it’s just one of the many complicated issues in which I’ve been able to offer contributions. Other task forces and workgroups I’ve served on are:
- Criminal Justice Policy Commission;
- Safe Behaviors, Safe Workplaces; and,
- Progressive Women’s Caucus — Gender Violence Task Force Chair
LEADING BY EXAMPLE. GETTING THE JOB DONE.
Progress
In July, I led a bipartisan bill package that would greatly reduce the time spent in jail either awaiting trial or for nonviolent offenses.
Unity
I led the Community Leaders Forum, which brought together elected officials and community leaders across the 3rd District to discuss how we can make our neighborhoods stronger and use information from the 2020 Census to move forward.
Understanding
In June, I hosted a youth forum with state Rep. Abdullah Hammoud (D-Dearborn) and Dearborn City Councilwoman Erin Byrnes to understand the impact of COVID-19 on our recent college graduates. This global pandemic has impacted all of us and, too often, our youth (who spend their hard-earned dollars on a postsecondary education) do not get the seat at the table that they deserve.