Tonight, Governor Rick Snyder delivered the annual State of the State address to a joint convention of the Michigan Legislature.  In what has been called the biggest speech of his career, the Governor spent the majority of his time focusing on the ongoing Flint water crisis.

After his introductory remarks, the Governor shifted to talking directly to the citizens of the City of Flint.  He recognized the crisis the families of Flint are facing and he assured the residents that he is taking the right steps to resolve the situation.  The Governor apologized and recognized the failure that occurred throughout all levels of government, including the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.  The Governor emphatically stated that situations such as this need to be brought to his desk immediately without delay.

Governor Snyder announced that tomorrow he is releasing his 2014 – 2015 emails regarding the water crisis in Flint at michigan.gov/Snyder, something which has been called for over the past few weeks.  Michigan law exempts the Governor and Legislature from FOIA.  The Governor then went on to lay out the timeline of the crisis, beginning with the City Council vote to change the city’s water source, when he was made aware of the situation and the steps the State has taken since that point.  Governor Snyder stated in the strongest terms possible that he will not stop taking action until every resident of Flint has safe, clean drinking water.

Governor Snyder concluded his remarks on the Flint water crisis by presenting his proposed solutions.  He vowed to make Flint a cleaner, safer, and better city.  Today, he requested a $28 million supplemental from the legislature to cover bottled water, assistance to the City of Flint, testing and replacing fixtures in schools and daycare facilities, and treatment of children with high lead levels.  The Governor made it clear that additional state financial resources will be needed for the City of Flint in the coming months.  He finalized his remarks on the crisis by making a commitment to the resident of Flint that he, and Michigan, will not let them down.

Governor Snyder shifted his speech to focus on the poor condition of Michigan’s infrastructure.  He touted the recently passed investment the state is making into road and bridges, the largest investment in decades.  He also spoke on the severely out-dated underground pipes and underground infrastructure.  He is issuing an Executive Order to the Department of Transportation to confer with local governments anytime there is a road project to check on infrastructure that is beneath the roads.  He also called on the legislature to look at the same issue when local governments are undertaking road construction.

The Governor shifted to speaking on the City of Detroit and recognized Mayor Mike Duggan.  He spoke on the amount of rebuilding in the city that has taken place since they entered and came out of bankruptcy.  It’s become a hub for innovation and is drawing young talent to our state.  However, despite the positive changes occurring, Detroit Public Schools are plagued with problems.  The schools are over $500 million in debt.  Governor Snyder called for prompt legislative action and thanked Senator Goeff Hansen (R-Hart) for his legislation that would make several changes to the financial structure of the school district.  

Governor Snyder talked about the educational reforms that have taken place, including expanding preschool programs, early and middle college programs, and offering more career technical education.  However, despite the accomplishments, according to the Governor Michigan has a 19th century education system.  The Governor called for creating a bipartisan commission on 21st century education system.  He is asking for commission results by the end of November.

The Governor spoke on Michigan’s economic accomplishments, including ranking sixth in the nation for job creation and first in the nation for manufacturing job growth.  Personal income in the state is increasing, last year it doubled the growth rate of the prior year.  However, he called for special efforts to ensure that all citizens can join in the economic turnaround that is occurring in many areas throughout the state.  Additionally, the Governor cautioned that the auto industry could be lost from our state if we don’t take leadership and enact key changes.  He called for investments in intelligent vehicles and smart infrastructure and proposed creating a center at Willow Run that could become the world’s top place for testing autonomous vehicles.

Also on the topic of infrastructure, Governor Snyder talked about the threat to the Soo Locks.  According to the Governor, most of the tonnage goes through one main lock and it is critical to the state’s economic future.  An analysis was completed to see the repercussion if that one lock went down.  The report stated it would be detrimental to the state, and potentially the country’s, economy.  As such, the Governor called for a second 1000 foot lock to be built – something that was approved by Congress in the 1980’s, but has never been funded.

The Governor also recognized students from Northern Michigan University's Invent@NMU program, which partners students with entrepreneurs in the community to take ideas from the back of the napkin to commercialization.

Governor Snyder concluded by committing to spend the last three years of his term to ensure Flint citizens are taken care of and they return stronger than ever.  He asked the legislature and residents to partner with him to make the state better and he asked those same citizens to hold him accountable.  He called for for bipartisan work to be done and cooperation by all parties to ensure the crisis in Flint is fully resolved.

MLC will provide further information and detail on the Governor’s remarks as well as the Democratic response in this Friday’s newsletter on the MLC blog.

For more information, please visit www.mi.gov/StateOfTheState.

Michigan Legislative Consultants is a bipartisan lobbying firm based in Lansing, Michigan. Our team of lobbyists and procurement specialists provide a wide range of services for some of the most respected companies in America. For more on MLC, visit www.mlcmi.com or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.