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Dear Friends and Neighbors, Welcome to my latest e-newsletter! It continues to be a privilege to represent Northville, Plymouth and eastern Canton, and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve our community in Lansing. I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve made so far this term, but we still have much work to do. I will continue to fight to ensure that every Michigander has access to the tools, resources and opportunities they need to succeed. I encourage you to stay up to date with what’s going on in Lansing and to let me know about the issues that matter to you, so I can continue to best represent the interests of our community. If there is anything I can do to help you and your family, please do not hesitate to call my office at (517) 373-3816, email me at MattKoleszar@house.mi.gov or stop by my office in Lansing. You can also catch me on Facebook and Twitter. Sincerely, Matt Koleszar State Representative, 20th House District In this Edition:
Upcoming Events Socially Distanced Coffee with Koleszar I hope you can join me for my upcoming in-person coffee chat! I look forward to providing an update on the recently passed budgets and having an informal conversation with you about the issues facing families in our community. When: Thursday, May 20, from 6 to 7 p.m. Where: Lion’s Park Pavilion 940 Fairground St. in Plymouth
Legislative Update Resolution to Commemorate May 2021 as Celiac Awareness Month Earlier this month, I welcomed my constituent and Northville High School Senior, Alyssa Budweg, to the Michigan House of Representatives to commemorate May 2021 as Celiac Awareness Month in Michigan. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that results in damage to the lining of the small intestine when a person eats food with gluten. Alyssa’s hard work and advocacy regarding celiac awareness is what led me to introduce this resolution. She has been very active in working with local restaurants to ensure a safe dining experience for people with celiac disease.
House Passes Fiscal Year ’22 and Supplemental Budgets Last week, the House passed 16 departmental budgets for the 2022 fiscal year and a series of supplemental budget bills to allocate billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funding. Unfortunately, these irresponsible budget proposals read more like a partisan agenda than actually providing the support and relief that Michiganders need now. They include 75% funding cuts for many state departments, focus on unnecessarily paying off bonds early instead of investing in transformational vital projects and tie many programs to removing gubernatorial authority. House Democrats proposed nearly 50 amendments to right the many wrongs in this proposal, almost all of which were rejected. The budget bills went on to pass largely along party lines. In the wake of the worst crisis we’ve seen in our lifetimes, now is the time to invest in our people, our economy and our infrastructure, but the budgets that passed last week fail to deliver.
Funding to Construct a New Hawthorn Center Passes House While I did not agree with all aspects of the supplemental budgets passed by the House last week, I was very excited to see funding was included for the planning and construction of a new Hawthorn Center. Hawthorn Center is an inpatient mental health center in Northville that serves children and adolescents. The Center first opened in 1956 and is in desperate need of a new facility. I was proud to vote yes in support of this funding. House Bill 4420 passed the House and now awaits further action in the Senate. Unemployment Work Search Requirements Returning May 30 Unemployment insurance claimants are traditionally required to actively seek work and report their activities to the Agency during certification for any week they receive benefits. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this requirement has been waived since March 2020. This requirement will be returning for claimants starting May 30, 2021. The state Legislature expanded what qualifies as work search activity through legislation last year. Work search activities include applying for jobs online, participating in virtual job fairs or employment workshops, or searching job listings at sites like Monster.com, LinkedIn or MITalent.org. For more information on work search, please view this helpful information on UIA’s website. In Our Community
Earlier this month, state Rep. Kelly Breen and I presented tributes to the Northville students of Team Aireos for placing third place worldwide in an airport design contest held by the Federal Aviation Administration. Team Aireos worked through the pandemic to redesign and revise the Gerald Ford Airport in Grand Rapids with a focus on sustainability. |
