Dear Neighbor,
Happy Minority Mental Health Awareness Month! I am honored to serve as the state representative for the 53rd House District and proud to be a strong advocate in Lansing for our community. Please encourage your friends and family to stay connected and subscribe to this e-newsletter. The e-news keeps everyone up-to-date on legislation and policies coming from the Capitol, coffee hours, and other virtual and in-person community events.
In service,
State Representative
Brenda Carter
53rd House District
In this Issue:
- State Budget Reinvests in Michigan
State Budget Reinvests in Michigan
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*Here I am with Reps. Will Snyder (left) and Ranjeev Puri (right). Snyder chairs the Labor and Economic Opportunity budget, and Puri chairs the Transportation budget. I was proud to work with both of them to get $10 million to fix the Martin Luther King Bridge and $55 million for economic development in downtown Pontiac!
The Michigan House of Representatives passed the state’s fiscal 2023-24 budget, marking a significant reinvestment in the people of Michigan. The School Aid budget — the largest in Michigan’s history — expands access to free preschool and provides free breakfast and lunch to every public school student. It also includes robust support for at-risk youth, mental health services, before- and after-school programs and so much more. There is no better investment than our kids, and this budget puts our state on a path to a bright future.
The state budget puts unspent dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act to work repairing roads, bridges and water infrastructure throughout the entire state to ensure that money is used in Michigan instead of being sent back to the federal government. Hundreds of millions will go toward lead line remediation and local road repairs. This budget prioritizes the health of Michiganders through increasing wages for direct care workers, providing incentives to expand our behavioral health care workforce, funding sickle cell disease treatment and so much more. We included substantial support for public safety, helping us graduate dozens of Michigan State Police troopers, upgrading their resources, providing specific mental health support for first responders and addressing gun case backlogs in Detroit and Wayne County. These investments will help us clean up contaminated sites, address PFAS and emerging contaminants, and protect the precious ecosystem of the Great Lakes.
These are just a few highlights of this incredibly exciting budget. These reinvestments mark a new chapter for our state. I can’t wait to see how these investments pay off in the months, years, and decades to come.