Senate Republican Priorities
and Achievements

Budget: Right-sizing government and Growing Michigan's Economy

The first step to government's economic recovery is an honest acknowledgement of the crisis. Denial is no longer an option, and reliance on tired old solutions and political rhetoric will not change our fortunes. Staying the course is only going to make matters worse and prolong our journey to the road to recovery. (more)

Elimination of MBT Surcharge

Senate Republicans sent a message this year to Michigan job providers to let them know how important they are to re-energizing our state's economy. We encouraged them to keep their businesses here with our recent passage of a bill to eliminate the onerous Michigan Business Tax surcharge. Senate Bill 1 phases out the 21.99 percent MBT surcharge over a two-year period - cutting the surcharge by half to 11 percent in 2009 and eliminating it by 2010. (more)

Workforce Training and Jobs

With our state's unemployment rate nearly 50 percent higher than the rest of the country, we must do everything we can to help put people back to work and facilitate job creation. Michigan has been in a one-state recession for the past six years and our state's economy is undergoing a change that is fundamental and long lasting. As this process plays out, the need to have a trained and capable workforce will grow and remain a top consideration for employers and entrepreneurs deciding where they want to locate. (more)

Health Care Reforms

Currently, Michigan is home to an estimated 1.1 million residents who do not have health insurance, which is equal to 11.5 percent of the state's population. This number is likely to increase unless the economy improves.

Michigan Senate Republicans understand many residents are afraid that they may not be able to afford health insurance. In the last legislative session we tried to address these concerns before they became an issue for the people of Michigan, but unfortunately, the House did not agree. (more)

Eliminate Bureaucracy

Senate Republicans will continue to do everything to make our state a leader in the nation for job growth. One of the most important factors a business considers when deciding where to locate or expand its operations is the time, cost, and ease of compliance associated with a state's regulatory climate.

Senate Republicans will continue our fight to eliminate bureaucracy and make Michigan an inviting place to do business. We will work with job providers to reform the regulatory structure in Michigan and to put pressure on the administration when the actions of a department are costing us precious jobs. (more)

An Agenda for Strong Schools

Senate Republicans firmly believe that the success of our great state will depend almost entirely on whether Michigan has the kind of education system that provides our children and future generations with the skills to succeed in the fiercely competitive and ever-evolving global economy. Literally and figuratively, we simply cannot afford an education model that has grown out of a 20th century industrial and agrarian society. Just as we must diversify our economy, we must challenge ourselves to innovate and to create a diverse and comprehensive approach to educating our children. We are focused and committed to a long-range plan to build strong schools that reflect a dynamic, efficient and high-performance 21st century learning environment. (more)

Protecting Water and Natural Resources

Michigan's natural resources are one of the state's most valuable assets. It is imperative that they be preserved and protected. Senate Republicans will continue our strong leadership role in protecting our water and our environment.

Efforts to conserve Michigan's natural resources are not new for Senate Republicans. For more than five years, we have been leading the way to develop proactive legislation to protect the Great Lakes, promote alternative energy, and expand recycling in Michigan. (more)

Keeping People in Their Homes

Senate Republicans will take action to ensure families are not taxed out of their homes in these tough economic times.

Property values in Michigan have declined steadily over the past two years. Most homeowners have seen the values of their homes drop 15 percent to 25 percent. Property taxes, however, have actually increased over the same period.

We will lead the charge to fix the constitutional provision that allows property taxes to increase while the value of your home decreases. (more)

Making Neighborhoods Safe

Senate Republicans served on a bipartisan workgroup comprised of members of the governor's administration, the House, and the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center to determine how the state might reduce corrections spending while reinvesting in measures that will make communities safer and stronger. The workgroup produced a bipartisan package of policy options that gives Michigan a real chance to achieve needed cost savings and prevents crime at the same time. (more)

From the Senate Floor

Michigan Senate Republicans Floor Statements

Senator Cropsey refutes false statements by the governor and other democrats that the Senate has not acted on revenue generating legislation for the K12 budget.

Recent Blogs from Senate Republicans

Royal Oak Superintendent Dr. Thomas Moline hit the nail on the head when recently testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee in support of my resolution urging an override of the governors veto of 20j funding. (read)

Making Neighborhoods Safe — Corrections and Judicial

The CSG Justice Center findings were a result of a rigorous, one-year analysis of the state's prison and parole population, re-incarceration and re-arrest rates, and other crime data. Given Michigan's current fiscal crisis, we must continue to look for savings through corrections reforms. Findings from the CSG Justice Center's report included the following:

Rates of violent crime in Michigan declined just 2 percent between 2000 and 2007; arrests for violent crimes, however, declined 22 percent during the same 7-year period.
Fifty percent of people on probation supervision and 50 to 70 percent of people on parole are unemployed.
People released from prison in 2007 had served, on average, 127 percent of their court-imposed minimum sentence before being placed on community supervision.

The CSG Justice Center delivered a package of policy options for the state's consideration, which include ensuring that most offenders (except for those with statutory maximum life sentences) serve 100 to 120 percent of their court-imposed minimum sentence. The Justice Center estimated that enacting this and other options could generate $262 million in savings from FY2011-2015. To successfully reduce corrections spending and increase public safety, the report describes some substantial upfront and sustained reinvestments of a portion of the projected savings. Options that the CSG Justice Center presented for potentially reducing crime included the following:

Provide support to local law enforcement to deploy targeted crime-fighting strategies.
Reduce the state's crime lab backlogs to address the delays in processing evidence and facilitate prosecutions.
Respond to probation violations with swift, certain, and proportional sanctions.
Expand employment services for high-risk probationers and parolees.

Michigan has the highest violent crime rate in the region. Increasing public safety must be our number one goal, and the Justice Center findings reiterate the need to reinvest savings in strategies that will reduce crime and victimization.

News items related to Making Neighborhoods Safe — Corrections and Judicial

BISHOP FORMS LAW ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE TO EXAMINE POTENTIAL REFORMS

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, today announced the formation of the Senate Law Enforcement Task Force, to examine the relationship between state and local police agencies and identify opportunities for increased integration, cooperation and efficiency. [more]

SANBORN TO INTRODUCE A BILL PROTECTING SCHOOLCHILDREN

Sanborn to introduce a bill protecting schoolchildren [more]

SEN. KAHN VOTES AGAINST STATE POLICE HEADQUARTERS

Lawmaker also concerned by cuts and trooper layoffs [more]

SEN. RICHARDVILLE INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO HELP MAKE COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFER

Measure would allow CCW permit holders to carry weapons on campus [more]

SENATOR GEORGE ISSUES STATEMENT ON STANDISH PRISON PROPOSAL

The Standish prison is a maximum security facility with an excellent safety record. There are legal precedents for housing federal inmates within Michigan, and it may be possible to negotiate a favorable intergovernmental agreement. [more]

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