State Representative
Betsy Coffia
Traverse City | 103rd House District
Serving 93,426 constituents in Acme Township, East Bay Township, Traverse City, Peninsula Township, Garfield Township, Long Lake Township, Almira Township, Platte Township, Empire Township, Glen Arbor Township, Cleveland Township, Kasson Township, Solon Township, Elmwood Township, Bingham Township, Centerville Township, Leland Township, Suttons Bay Township, Leelanau Township
[email protected]
(517) 373-3817
Office: S-1387 House Office Building
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Betsy Coffia
Dear America,
I want my 8 year old niece when she’s my age, and people 250 years from now, to look back at us, this generation of Americans, and be proud of how we chose to stand up for ourselves and each other. Even when it was hard and scary. Especially when it was hard and scary. That we weren’t perfect but by god we tried.
I want her and those after her to look back and see that we dug deep and found the love, courage and humility to build bridges across generations and across our many differences, to face the enormous challenges of our time. That we decided we would find ways to have each others backs, imperfectly but consistently, and that we decided we would allow no one to be left behind this time. And when we said no one we meant it.
I want them to be so proud of us because we found ways to be more connected, more curious than judgmental, more creative and caring and truly collaborative and cooperative for the greater good. I want them to see that we courageously faced the hard things about our nation’s past without excuses, and that we let those hard things teach us how to grieve and how to love our country enough to make it live up to its promises of liberty and justice for ALL.
I want the ones who look back at us to see that we grew ourselves when it was hard but necessary, so we could be a strong and decent nation and strong and decent neighbors in the process.
I want for them to be able to directly trace their expanded unquestioned freedoms and prosperity to our love, imagination, vision and courage and our willingness to act in a way that ensures the survival and wellbeing of the next seven generations.
Knowing that we each have the opportunity to influence the future by our decisions and actions now, is at core a very hopeful thing. And a call to action.
America exists by the consent of the governed. It has survived for 250 years. We the people are up to the plate, finding it is our turn to shape the future. More than any one leader or elected body, it will be the people who decide what’s next.
I believe we are being called to LIVE out the values we want our nation to embody.
What are the values you want to see grow in America this 250th year?
For me, courage, honesty, integrity, intellectual curiosity, creativity, kindness, tenacity and compassion are at the top.
Anyway, America, happy birthday. Thank you for all you have given to me and thank you to every person who struggled to achieve more freedom so I could be free.
I love my country and I will keep working to help her fulfill her promise, to us all.
Betsy
12 CommentsComment on Facebook
Let America Be America Again
By Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
10 CommentsComment on Facebook
“The eternal vigilance of a free people”
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
We had a marathon 21 hour session in the Michigan house yesterday and today to finish the budget. Around midnight last night we were on a short break and I took a walk around the state Capitol as I often do to get some fresh air and stretch my legs and clear my head. In my 3 1/2 years working in Lansing, this is the first time I have encountered at midnight musician on the Capitol steps. This young man was sitting with his electric guitar playing sort of bluesy freestyle sounding music. I caught a little bit a bit on camera, but I stood and looked up at the sky and listened for a couple of songs and just felt quietly grateful for a very unique moment of being alive in that exact time and place. Music has that effect on people I think sometimes, especially when we really pause to notice.
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
Good morning from the Capitol! We are still here - session began at noon yesterday and has continued thru the night. Still voting, still working on the final budget passage. Grateful for coffee. 😅☕️
24 CommentsComment on Facebook
I spoke on the House Floor in opposition to House Bill 5727 because I believe in protecting Michigan’s kids. In 2024, we passed a bill that created much-needed safeguards to the Youth Employment Standards Act, such as harsher penalties for violations and tightening work hour limits to keep our children safe from those who might exploit their labor.
HB 5727 would eliminate the youth work permit system and provide even fewer protections than there were before 2024, making it easier for employers to take advantage of children. I believe in the value of hard work. As a kid, I helped my mom clean houses and mowed lawns as young as age 11. I know that we need to support our state’s youngest workers. Why are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle so eager to roll back protections, especially when it comes to our kids?
Two years ago in Traverse City, a 17-year-old boy experienced a debilitating injury while working at a construction site when he fell 30 feet. No police or emergency medical services were called to assist, and the incident was not reported to state or federal workplace safety regulators. This incident is just one example of why we need to be addressing the weaknesses in child labor laws, not creating more gaps for bad actors to exploit or barriers for children to be protected.
There is more work to be done to stand up for the safety of our youth, and as we work towards building a brighter future for Michigan, our highest priority must be the well-being and future of our children.
14 CommentsComment on Facebook
No one should have to worry about accessing the care they need, which is why I’ve cosponsored bills to make universal healthcare available for all Michiganders. This is especially needed at a time when the president and the Republican majority in Congress passed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill last year, which slashed funding for Medicaid, gutted the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for middle-class families and made it harder for people to access healthcare, especially in more rural areas. My office has received an alarming number of texts, calls and other contacts from individuals and families with serious concerns about losing access to healthcare because they simply can no longer afford it.
For those who still have coverage, some are experiencing big jumps in their premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. While I’m pushing us to pass bills to ensure healthcare for all, I want to share important information for Benzie County residents, including options to access healthcare through Federally qualified Health Centers, which provide our community with care regardless of ability to pay. I won't stop fighting for long-term solutions so that more people can afford and access healthcare when and where they need it. Healthcare is a human right.
1 CommentsComment on Facebook
No one should have to worry about accessing the care they need, which is why I’ve cosponsored bills to make universal healthcare available for all Michiganders. This is especially needed at a time when the president and the Republican majority in Congress passed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill last year, which slashed funding for Medicaid, gutted the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for middle-class families and made it harder for people to access healthcare, especially in more rural areas. My office has received an alarming number of texts, calls and other contacts from individuals and families with serious concerns about losing access to healthcare because they simply can no longer afford it.
For those who still have coverage, some are experiencing big jumps in their premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. While I’m pushing us to pass bills to ensure healthcare for all, I want to share important information for Grand Traverse County residents, including options to access healthcare through Federally qualified Health Centers, which provide our community with care regardless of ability to pay. I won't stop fighting for long-term solutions so that more people can afford and access healthcare when and where they need it. Healthcare is a human right.
9 CommentsComment on Facebook
FOLLOW FOR MORE
Betsy Coffia IN THE NEWS
Coffia Delivers Senate Testimony in Support of Affordable Child Care
Coffia Delivers Senate Testimony in Support of Expanding Affordable, Quality Child Care State Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) and [...]
Coffia Introduces Resolution Calling for Justice for Epstein Victims
Coffia Introduces Resolution Calling for Justice for Epstein Victims and Survivors Lawmakers urge Congress to investigate all implicated individuals LANSING, [...]
Coffia Welcomes Educator and Tribal Member Samantha TwoCrow
Coffia Welcomes Educator and Tribal Member Samantha TwoCrow to the Michigan Capitol as State of the State Guest State [...]
... See MoreSee Less
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Dear America,
I want my 8 year old niece when she’s my age, and people 250 years from now, to look back at us, this generation of Americans, and be proud of how we chose to stand up for ourselves and each other. Even when it was hard and scary. Especially when it was hard and scary. That we weren’t perfect but by god we tried.
I want her and those after her to look back and see that we dug deep and found the love, courage and humility to build bridges across generations and across our many differences, to face the enormous challenges of our time. That we decided we would find ways to have each others backs, imperfectly but consistently, and that we decided we would allow no one to be left behind this time. And when we said no one we meant it.
I want them to be so proud of us because we found ways to be more connected, more curious than judgmental, more creative and caring and truly collaborative and cooperative for the greater good. I want them to see that we courageously faced the hard things about our nation’s past without excuses, and that we let those hard things teach us how to grieve and how to love our country enough to make it live up to its promises of liberty and justice for ALL.
I want the ones who look back at us to see that we grew ourselves when it was hard but necessary, so we could be a strong and decent nation and strong and decent neighbors in the process.
I want for them to be able to directly trace their expanded unquestioned freedoms and prosperity to our love, imagination, vision and courage and our willingness to act in a way that ensures the survival and wellbeing of the next seven generations.
Knowing that we each have the opportunity to influence the future by our decisions and actions now, is at core a very hopeful thing. And a call to action.
America exists by the consent of the governed. It has survived for 250 years. We the people are up to the plate, finding it is our turn to shape the future. More than any one leader or elected body, it will be the people who decide what’s next.
I believe we are being called to LIVE out the values we want our nation to embody.
What are the values you want to see grow in America this 250th year?
For me, courage, honesty, integrity, intellectual curiosity, creativity, kindness, tenacity and compassion are at the top.
Anyway, America, happy birthday. Thank you for all you have given to me and thank you to every person who struggled to achieve more freedom so I could be free.
I love my country and I will keep working to help her fulfill her promise, to us all.
Betsy ... See MoreSee Less
12 CommentsComment on Facebook
Let America Be America Again
By Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again! ... See MoreSee Less
10 CommentsComment on Facebook
“The eternal vigilance of a free people” ... See MoreSee Less
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
We had a marathon 21 hour session in the Michigan house yesterday and today to finish the budget. Around midnight last night we were on a short break and I took a walk around the state Capitol as I often do to get some fresh air and stretch my legs and clear my head. In my 3 1/2 years working in Lansing, this is the first time I have encountered at midnight musician on the Capitol steps. This young man was sitting with his electric guitar playing sort of bluesy freestyle sounding music. I caught a little bit a bit on camera, but I stood and looked up at the sky and listened for a couple of songs and just felt quietly grateful for a very unique moment of being alive in that exact time and place. Music has that effect on people I think sometimes, especially when we really pause to notice. ... See MoreSee Less
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
Good morning from the Capitol! We are still here - session began at noon yesterday and has continued thru the night. Still voting, still working on the final budget passage. Grateful for coffee. 😅☕️ ... See MoreSee Less
24 CommentsComment on Facebook
I spoke on the House Floor in opposition to House Bill 5727 because I believe in protecting Michigan’s kids. In 2024, we passed a bill that created much-needed safeguards to the Youth Employment Standards Act, such as harsher penalties for violations and tightening work hour limits to keep our children safe from those who might exploit their labor.
HB 5727 would eliminate the youth work permit system and provide even fewer protections than there were before 2024, making it easier for employers to take advantage of children. I believe in the value of hard work. As a kid, I helped my mom clean houses and mowed lawns as young as age 11. I know that we need to support our state’s youngest workers. Why are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle so eager to roll back protections, especially when it comes to our kids?
Two years ago in Traverse City, a 17-year-old boy experienced a debilitating injury while working at a construction site when he fell 30 feet. No police or emergency medical services were called to assist, and the incident was not reported to state or federal workplace safety regulators. This incident is just one example of why we need to be addressing the weaknesses in child labor laws, not creating more gaps for bad actors to exploit or barriers for children to be protected.
There is more work to be done to stand up for the safety of our youth, and as we work towards building a brighter future for Michigan, our highest priority must be the well-being and future of our children. ... See MoreSee Less
14 CommentsComment on Facebook
No one should have to worry about accessing the care they need, which is why I’ve cosponsored bills to make universal healthcare available for all Michiganders. This is especially needed at a time when the president and the Republican majority in Congress passed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill last year, which slashed funding for Medicaid, gutted the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for middle-class families and made it harder for people to access healthcare, especially in more rural areas. My office has received an alarming number of texts, calls and other contacts from individuals and families with serious concerns about losing access to healthcare because they simply can no longer afford it.
For those who still have coverage, some are experiencing big jumps in their premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. While I’m pushing us to pass bills to ensure healthcare for all, I want to share important information for Benzie County residents, including options to access healthcare through Federally qualified Health Centers, which provide our community with care regardless of ability to pay. I won't stop fighting for long-term solutions so that more people can afford and access healthcare when and where they need it. Healthcare is a human right. ... See MoreSee Less
1 CommentsComment on Facebook
No one should have to worry about accessing the care they need, which is why I’ve cosponsored bills to make universal healthcare available for all Michiganders. This is especially needed at a time when the president and the Republican majority in Congress passed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill last year, which slashed funding for Medicaid, gutted the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for middle-class families and made it harder for people to access healthcare, especially in more rural areas. My office has received an alarming number of texts, calls and other contacts from individuals and families with serious concerns about losing access to healthcare because they simply can no longer afford it.
For those who still have coverage, some are experiencing big jumps in their premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. While I’m pushing us to pass bills to ensure healthcare for all, I want to share important information for Grand Traverse County residents, including options to access healthcare through Federally qualified Health Centers, which provide our community with care regardless of ability to pay. I won't stop fighting for long-term solutions so that more people can afford and access healthcare when and where they need it. Healthcare is a human right. ... See MoreSee Less
9 CommentsComment on Facebook