Senator Bill Hardiman :: 29th District

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

The leaves have all fallen from the trees, the temperatures are dropping and soon the snow will be flying it must be time for one of my favorite holidays: Thanksgiving. (read)

Senate approves Department of Human Services budget

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

LANSING - The Senate today approved the Department of Human Services budget proposal for the 2008 fiscal year, said Sen. Bill Hardiman, chair of the DHS Senate Appropriations Subcommittee and sponsor of the legislation.

"The current budget crisis requires us to look at how state government operates," said Hardiman, R-Kentwood. "We had to reconstruct and reform systems in ways that would provide necessary services more efficiently and effectively. With the passage of this budget, we were able to accomplish significant reforms that will provide high quality services and save the state money."

Senate Bill 232 will reform and refocus the department by drawing upon community-based partners for foster care, adoption services and juvenile justice programs.

"Shifting more services to community-based providers will mean better services for young people," Hardiman said. "By implementing more performance contracts with private agencies, there will be more accountability built into the system and less duplication of services. We had to move forward with such changes. The money we saved can now be spent in other needed areas."

For juvenile justice services, it costs the state more than $550 a day to house each youthful offender at the W.J. Maxey Boys Training School in Whitmore Lake. In comparison, it would cost only $225 to $250 a day if the youth were dealt with through private community-based agencies.

Other budget recommendations included in SB 232 are:

* Requiring the department to transfer all of the juvenile offenders classified in medium security at Maxey to private facilities by May 1, 2008, which is a reduction of 80 beds saving more than $9 million annually;
* Increasing rates by four percent for providers of residential services for juvenile justice and abused or neglected youth, and for private agencies providing adoption services;
* Providing funding for an increase in the rate paid by the department to licensed day care providers serving DHS recipients;
* Requiring the department to implement a single daily rate for foster care services;
* Offering funding for private child placing agencies to license relatives as foster care providers with the goal of placing all children in foster care in licensed homes;
* Increasing focus on finalizing adoptions for children who have been languishing in the system by increasing the funding available to work specifically with children in foster care who have special needs;
* Protecting community based initiatives, such as the Marriage and Fatherhood initiatives, Before-and After-School initiative, Senior Food Aid programs and the Teenage Parent Counseling program;
* Improving child welfare by requiring performance measures, incentives and measurable outcomes for services to children with a focus on achieving permanency; and
* Preserving funding for child protective services to use for investigations of child abuse and neglect.

"We have emphasized the importance of improving and reforming the system all year," Hardiman said. "This is true reform that is setting new priorities by restructuring the department to better meet needs and resources."