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In this e-newsletter:
Upcoming VIRTUAL Coffee Hour – Feb. 18 My coffee hour for the month of February will be on Friday, Feb. 18, from 9-10 a.m. This will be a virtual coffee hour. I will be providing a legislative update and offering an opportunity for residents of the 60th House District to share their thoughts and perspectives.
To attend the coffee hour, please click HERE to register or email my office at JulieRogers@house.mi.gov by NOON on Feb. 17 and an access link will be sent to registered participants that afternoon. Attendees are also encouraged to submit questions in advance when they email the office to register.
Gov. Whitmer’s Budget Proposal On Feb. 9, Gov. Whitmer shared her executive recommendation for the fiscal year 2023 budget. As a recently appointed member of the House Appropriations Committee, I was proud to sit in on this presentation. The governor has laid out a budget that works for all Michiganders.
Her budget includes $3 billion for our essential workers, including first responders, educators, health care workers and frontline workers. It includes $48 million for community technical assistance grants for lead water line replacement. The governor also proposed boosting Michigan’s transportation budget by 20%, or $1 billion, to repair roads and increase spending on transit, $378 million of which comes from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The proposed budget would include a 5% increase for per-student funding, making it the largest amount in state history. It would also include additional funding and enhanced support for rural school districts and those with a greater proportion of students receiving special education services, English language learners, at-risk youth, and economically disadvantaged students. The governor also proposed a four-year, $2.3 billion educator retention plan. This includes: $1.65 billion to help retain teachers and school support staff, $600 million in teacher recruitment efforts and scholarships and $150 million in stipends for student teachers. It also includes $361 million to hire hundreds of on-campus mental health professionals and open 40 school-based health clinics that serve 20,000 students.
Please visit www.michigan.gov/budget for more information about the governor’s proposal.
Honoring the Late and Former State Rep. Mary C. Brown On Thursday, Feb. 17, we will be honoring the life of a legislative legend, the late former state Rep. Mary C. Brown, during House session. Rep. Brown served nine terms as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives and fought for many important issues on behalf of the residents of Kalamazoo long after her 18 years in office ended.
At noon on Feb. 17, a memorial resolution will be read during session in her honor and can be watched LIVE here.
First Veterans’ Issues Listening Session a Success; Three More Stops Left On Feb. 11 and 14, I held the first two of five Veterans’ Issues Listening Sessions as part of our state-wide tour. As a policymaker, I appreciated the questions and conversations, and I am looking forward to the next four stops.
Throughout the tour, I will be joined by fellow state representatives and Director Zaneta Adams of the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency. We want to hear directly from the brave men and women who have served our country about the issues that matter most to them and their families.
We have three more VIRTUAL (Zoom) sessions, and each session will focus on a different region of the state. Our upcoming sessions are: Mid-Michigan, the Upper Peninsula and Metro Detroit. If you know someone from one of these regions who may want to attend, please share this information.
To register for one of the remaining sessions, please click HERE. Individuals are also encouraged to submit questions in advance when they register. If there are any issues with the registration link, please feel free to email my office at JulieRogers@house.mi.gov.
The full list of the remaining sessions are below:
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