Dear Neighbor,
We have officially entered March! March is Women’s History Month, and I am pleased to celebrate the many contributions women make in this great state. As the weather warms up, I hope you and loved ones can spend some time outdoors.
Featured in Today’s Newsletter:
- Queenie’s Law
- Working to Keep More Money in Your Pockets this Tax Season
- Boosted Wages and Sick Time Benefits for Michiganders
- Eight Michigan Women Who Changed History
- Spring Cleaning Guide
- Tax Tips: Keep More of Your Tax Return
- Tick Tock, Time to Change the Clock!
- Project Grace
- Free Sewer Repair Program
Please feel free to reach out to share your thoughts or seek assistance with challenges you may be facing with state departments. You can email me at SenPWojno@senate.michigan.gov or call (517) 373-8360.
Warmest regards,
Paul Wojno
State Senator
District 10
Queenie’s Law
Last session, I introduced “Queenie’s Law “to prohibit painful dog experiments at Michigan’s publicly funded institutions. This session, I have reintroduced this legislation to protect our furry friends.
Publicly funded universities have been conducting harmful experiments on dogs using state funding. Since 1991 university employees have cut open dogs’ chest cavities, stabbed wires and catheters into the animals’ hearts, and implanted medical devices in and around arteries. Dogs that survive the surgeries are forced to run on treadmills while the implanted devices trigger heart failure. Queenie, a stray from Gratiot County, was killed in 2010 after being used in the experiments for seven months.
Michigan patients and their furry friends deserve better from our public research institutions. This bill would ensure that government funds are used to advance human health, not to harm and kill dogs. Read more about this legislation here.
Working to Keep More Money in Your Pockets this Tax Season
With rising costs making it harder for families to put food on the table and fill up their gas tank, my colleagues and I have been focused on cutting taxes and lowering costs for everyday Michiganders. Last session, we passed the Lowering MI Costs Plan — the biggest tax relief initiative Michigan has seen in decades. This plan overhauled the unfair retirement tax to help seniors save an average of $1,000 annually and provided the largest tax break for working families in the state’s history, helping them save an average of $3,150.
This tax season marks the second year Michiganders can take advantage of these policies. To learn more about how you can maximize your tax return, click here.
I remain committed to expanding on these efforts to ensure that folks who work hard can make it here in Michigan. This includes ensuring young people have affordable paths to higher education, parents can access child care and PreK, families have the resources they need to put a down payment on a new home, and people who need medication or medical care can access it without breaking the bank.
Boosted Wages and Sick Time Benefits for Michiganders
The Michigan Legislature recently passed bipartisan bills to increase wages and expand earned sick time policy, putting more money in the pockets of our workers while also ensuring they have time to care for themselves and their loved ones when illness strikes.
Signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer two weeks ago, changes to the state’s minimum wage are already underway, receiving an initial boost from $10.56 to $12.48/hour on Feb. 21, and set to gradually increase to $15/hour by Jan. 1, 2027. After 2027, the minimum wage will increase each year according to inflation. Restaurant servers, bartenders, and others will also see some changes to their tipped wage credit, which will remain at 38% of the minimum wage this year and increase to 50% over the next six years.
The new statewide earned sick time policy established for Michigan sets the highest standards nationwide for earned sick time. Specifically, the legislation would require larger businesses to provide a minimum of 72 hours of earned sick time to full-time employees and expand more flexible requirements to small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. These changes ensure over a million more workers have access to earned sick time, protecting both employees and employers alike. The legislation also puts new measures into place regarding the carry-over of sick time and employee-to-employer notification requirements. Learn more here.
Eight Michigan Women Who Changed History
While celebrating Women’s History Month, it is important to honor the women who changed our state and nation for the better. Let’s take a look at some Michigan women who have changed history!
- Rosa Parks (Detroit): Rosa refused to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking a 301-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system. Her activism helped inspire civil rights reform for many years to come.
- Ruth Ellis (Detroit): Ruth was a lesbian and African American entrepreneur. She was one of few African American businesses leaders in the 1940s. Ruth’s home also served as a safe haven for gay African Americans.
- Helen Thomas (Detroit): Helen was a journalist who covered presidents of the United States from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. She served as White House bureau chief for United Press International, becoming the first woman to hold such a position for a wire service.
- Sojourner Truth (Battle Creek): Sojourner was born in 1797 into slavery in New York. She later escaped in 1827 and took refuge for a year until the New York State Emancipation Act was approved. She then moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, where during the Civil War, she worked tirelessly to ensure troops of color were treated fairly.
- Agnes Mary Mansour (Detroit): Agnes Mary Mansour distinguished herself in the corporate, academic, religious, and political arenas as professor of chemistry and president of Mercy College of Detroit. She also sat on numerous boards and ran for Congress, being a staunch advocate for women’s reproductive rights.
- Esther K. Shapiro (Detroit): Esther was an advocate for civil rights, voting rights, and consumer rights. She was the first director of Detroit’s Consumer Affairs Department and was at the forefront on helping get African Americans elected to local and national offices.
- Helen W. Milliken (Traverse City): Helen was the wife of the former Governor of Michigan. She fought for women’s issues and concerns by speaking on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment and raising funds to support it.
- Ethelene Crockett (Detroit): Ethelene was a physician, community leader, and humanitarian who served to rectify social inequality, help those who did not have a voice, and fight to liberalize Michigan’s abortion laws. She was also the first woman president of the American Lung Association.
Spring Cleaning Guide
With spring weather just around the corner, spring cleaning may be on your agenda. This may include ensuring everything in your home is in its proper place and discarding items you no longer need. While removing unwanted items, it is important to keep recycling in mind.
Here’s some guidance on how to handle materials that are commonly encountered during spring cleaning:
- Household hazardous waste such as cleaners, fertilizers, paint, solvents, acids, fuel, electronics, batteries, and aerosol cans: While containers for these items may be recyclable, they still contain chemicals, such as bleach or drain cleaner, that can mix and cause fires at recycling facilities. The Dept. of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy has a webpage with drop-off locations and a list of hazardous waste to be aware of.
- Pieces of metal, such as old grills, rusty lawn mower blades, or pots and pans: Scrap metal is generally not accepted curbside, but some drop-off recycling centers will take it. Some scrap yards will also pay for dropped-off metal.
- Hoses, boat shrink-wrap, and other types of flexible plastics: Recycling facilities don’t want these materials because they can get tangled in their machinery, but they’re ripe for reuse. In addition, the Recycling Run Program will pick up used shrink-wrap by appointment and find a new use for it.
- Plastic flowerpots and plant containers: Some recycling services will accept these materials curbside, provided they’re not full of dirt. Home Depot stores and Meijer Garden Centers also collect them for recycling in partnership with East Jordan Plastics.
- Electronic waste, such as old computers or TVs: Please visit Electronic Waste Take Back Program to find information on how to dispose of your old electronics.
- Clothing: This is a big no-no for curbside recycling. However, local thrift shops can find new uses for most donated garments. You could also turn them into rags to use for cleaning in place of paper towels.
Tax Tips: Keep More of Your Tax Return
Tax season is here! If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to get out your tax documents and file with the state and federal government before Tuesday, April 15, 2025. In addition to saving with the retirement tax repeal and the expanded tax credit for working families, here are a few other quick tips to help you maximize your return this year:
- Avoid scams: For federal returns, the IRS will only initiate contact with you through regular mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Make sure you do not share your personal tax information via phone, email, or social media. Learn more here.
- Utilize free resources: Michigan Free Tax Help connects Michiganders with free, high-quality income tax preparation assistance. Visit MichiganFreeTaxHelp.org to find local help.
- Take advantage of available deductions: You can deduct charitable contributions, property taxes, medical expenses and more from your federal 2024 taxes. Visit IRS.gov/credits-deductions for a full list.
Tick Tock, Time to Change the Clock!
Here’s your reminder that starting this weekend, be prepared to lose an hour of sleep and gain an extra hour of daylight in return! Yep, Daylight Saving Time is upon us. This Sunday, March 9, clocks will spring forward one hour at 2:00 a.m. and reset to 3:00 a.m. While cell phones will automatically reset themselves, make sure to change any manually controlled clocks ahead of time before heading to bed on Saturday night, March 8, to avoid any confusion or a last-minute morning scramble to get out the door.
Project Grace
Project Grace is a collaborative effort from Dog Aide and Bark Nation that offers free spay/neuter surgeries for dogs in the city of Detroit through a voucher system. In addition to the spay/neutering services, Project Grace offers their dogs free antibiotics and pain medications, nail trims, needed vaccinations, and microchipping. There are no income or breed restrictions.
Dog Aide already provides families with free food, pet care supplies, and education about caring for pets. The only criteria to join this program is that your dog must be spayed or neutered. Project Grace helps remove that barrier so more Detroiters can have access to this aide.
To learn more about Dog Aide and Project Grace, please click here
Free Sewer Repair Program
Did your basement flood in June of 2021? If your property is located in the eligible neighborhoods that were most impacted, then you might be eligible. To get a list of the eligible neighborhoods please click here.
The repair services include:
- Clean and inspect private lateral sewer line.
- Repair or replace private lateral sewer and install cleanout.
- Install backflow water valve on private lateral sewer.
- Install backflow water valve and sump pump with overflow.
- Disconnect downspout and install extensions where possible to a proper place of disposal.
Who is eligible:
- Households applying must be at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) as determined annually by HUD.
- Applicants must live in a single‐family residential structure (1‐4 units).
- Households must be able to demonstrate impact (tie‐back) from the June 25‐26, 2021 flood event.
- The property cannot be in a floodplain.
- Applicants must be able to demonstrate that there is no duplication of benefits.
To pre-apply please visit detroitmi.gov/psrp or email PSRP@DETROITMI.GOV.