From My Desk in LansingIt doesn't seem long ago when I first walked into the capitol in January 2011 to take the official oath of office for state representative of the 24th House District. The past 24 months have been filled with our efforts at the state to help Michigan reinvent itself. Remember, we were 50th in the country in most categories. Unemployment was around 15 percent. And the general moral of our friends and neighbors was that Michigan's best days were behind them.I, along with my new colleagues, were determined to change the mood around Lansing and step away from the previous …

From My Desk in LansingMichiganders across this beautiful state can attest that summer has flown by once again.  Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” no longer applies, as our children flock back to the classrooms.  Now, we can look forward to good times ahead.  Our climate is changing in Michigan; both in terms of weather, and signs of economic recovery.  I have enjoyed the ability these past weeks to focus on subjects that directly relate to those I represent in the 24th District.  I have spent much of my time on local concerns such as, the water quality issues involving Lake St. Clair.Water …

From My Desk in Lansing The first two weeks of June were a whirlwind of activity even when you consider the hectic schedule getting Michigan out of intensive care for the past two years. It appears that the economy has stabilized but we are a long way from recovery. No longer are we seeing month after month of job reports showing higher and higher unemployment. In fact, unemployment has come down from 14.5% to 8.5% in the last 2 years.   We now officially have improved our bond rating in Michigan to AAA according to Moody's, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, which is good news for all of …

From My Desk in LansingAs spring moves along, we in Lansing, continue to address the difficult challenges that face Michigan taxpayers in the near and distant future.One of the main concerns is reforming the Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System (MPSERS). I will explain later in this newsletter in greater detail but this is something that has been a nagging problem, not just recently, but for many years.A week few weeks ago, Governor Snyder signed two of my bills into law. The first, regarding medical amnesty and the second, was the removal of the prisoner sales tax exemption. …

From My Desk in LansingSpring is officially here and that means our beloved Detroit Tigers are back on the field for another season of America’s favorite pastime. Now if the weather would just start acting agreeable … we will all be able to enjoy the outdoors.The early part of April was a busy time in the district. Beyond the usual things, I was asked to speak to a Macomb County business group with my colleague from Fraser about our bipartisan efforts and the work to make Macomb County issues a top priority. There were also three senior events in St. Clair Shores and Harrison Township. Sue …

From My Desk in Lansing:The Fiscal Year 2013 Executive Budget plan has been introduced and will receive much of my attention during the coming months. Last year's budget was very tough and tough decisions had to be made in order to protect our hard-earned tax dollars.One year later I can tell you it was worth it.During the past decade our legislatures spent down our rainy-day fund to the point that nothing was left. We were borrowing money just so we could balance the budget. We had to go out to the bond markets (which is very costly) just to make repairs on buildings.Now, just one year later…

From My Desk in Lansing:Wow, what a difference one week makes. Last year we saw one of the busiest legislative sessions in the history of Michigan. But it wasn’t until last week that I was able to see some of the bills our office authored see the light of day. In just two legislative sessions the house passed HB 4653 and HB 4656, which protect the sanctity of the ballot box and HB 4658, which takes away the exemption for prisoners. I’ll talk more about those later in this article.2011 brought us a year of significant change for Michigan. The legislature adopted a balanced budget for the first…

From my desk in the House: For the past several weeks Lansing has been receiving visits from the three ghosts. The Ghost of Our Past, the ghost of Our Present and the Ghost of What is Yet to Come have been seen lurking around the capitol with informative messages for all of the legislators. Why are the ghosts here? What messages did they bring us? The Ghost of Our Past has spoken of days when the local auto plant offered plentiful high paying jobs on the assembly line with company-paid benefits.  These were times when state government received high revenues it could share with local …

It's hard to believe how nice the weather has been for us this fall. In spite of the weather it seems like the Tigers had to play in the rain every time there on the field. I hope that everyone has taken advantage of being outside for the past few weeks before the cold weather moves in.  With the nice weather, our office participated in many events over the past few weeks, including our own "Kickin' Off the Pounds" event, the legislative Columbus Day Celebration and a Tele Town Hall. On the topic of Health and Wellness, it was encouraging to see so many constituents enjoy a night of exercise …

It's hard to believe summer is over and the Legislature is back into regular session. Although I took advantage of the time away from taking votes to meet with several departments regarding my own legislation, I mostly enjoyed the opportunity summer afforded to spend more time in the district hearing from residents on the issues. Our office also participated in many local events, including the Active Aging Summit and the Green Fair. On the topic of green energy, it was instructive to take a wind farm tour to see how we can expand those efforts in Michigan.  On July 28, I took House Speaker …

From my desk in the House:  June was a hectic month here in the Legislature, and we’ve accomplished much. After putting the budget to bed in May, we focused on regulatory reforms in June that should lay the groundwork for future job growth.    We conducted our first ‘tele-town hall’ on May 31, making a call to thousands of area residents. New technology allows you to participate more in democracy, which is a great development. During our conversation, you could press a button on your phone to answer random survey questions. In doing so I was able to see your views on important issues, from …

Our work on the fiscal year 2012 is complete. This balanced budget agreement, while historic, merely opens the door of opportunity for the hard-working men and women of Michigan. Now, we must have the courage to walk through that door and reclaim our state's future. Michigan’s median family income has dropped 21.3 percent since 2000. We knew we had to get state spending in line with our limited revenues and be clear about what Michigan taxpayers can and cannot afford. We've done that and made significant changes to the way state government serves the people. For the first time in a generation…