Insider Intelligence

Tuesday, June 6, was the filing deadline for the open  109th House District in the Upper Peninsula.  The district includes the counties of Alger, Luce, Schoolcraft, and a portion of Marquette County.  The seat was left vacant following the passing of Representative John Kivela.  The seat has a 56% Democratic base, while the Republicans have […]

This week, the House Local Government Committee reported two bills that would ban a local government from becoming a sanctuary city.  A ‘sanctuary city’ as they are called, is one that limits or abstains from cooperating with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in matters related to deportation, in either law or practice.  The committee […]

This week, the remaining conference committees reported budgets.  This momentum is needed in order for the legislature to wrap-up the budgets for the upcoming fiscal year by their self-imposed deadline of prior to the end of June.  However, House and Senate leadership are pushing for reforms to the teacher’s pension system as part of the […]

This week, Evan Ward, son of MLC President Tim Ward, received the 2017 Frank M. Fitzgerald Award at the State Capitol.  He was also recognized on the Senate floor by Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kowall (R-White Lake) during session on Tuesday.  Evan is a student at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he is […]

This week, Speaker Tom Leonard (R-DeWitt Twp.) announced changes to committee memberships, to fill the vacancies created by the passing of Representative John Kivela last month.  Representative William Sowerby (D-Clinton County) will now serve as Minority Vice Chair on the Natural Resources Committee, a spot previously held by Representative Kivela.  In addition, the following members […]

Legislative session continues next week with the usual Tuesday – Thursday schedule.  It is a possible that this will be the final week before the summer recess, if the budgets are completed by both chambers.

Below are some of the articles that the MLC lobby team has been reading this past week.  We hope you find them as interesting and useful as we do. How Trump’s Tax Reform Push Could Make American Liquor Great Again – Could a cut to the excise tax spur extraordinary growth in the industry? 4 […]

The Director of the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget announced he is leaving his post to return to the private sector. The 21st Century Economy Commission presented their report to the Governor, outlining where the state should focus its resources in order to grow our economy moving forward. While at the annual Detroit Regional […]