Dear Friends,

Welcome to my e-news, and thank you for allowing me to serve you in the 12th House District and act as your voice in Lansing. My team and I remain committed to helping constituents with their questions and issues, keeping residents up to date on new developments related to the pandemic, and providing useful resources for our community.

As your representative, I am most effective at my job when acting on your input. I encourage you to reach out to me and my staff with any questions, comments or concerns you may have about issues in the district or legislation that will impact our state. You can contact me at (517) 373-0852, by email or through my website. Thank you for your commitment to the community we both call home; I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Alex Garza

State Representative, 12th House District

In This Edition:

  • Upcoming Coffee Hours
  • Executive Budget Update 
  • COVID-19 Vaccines 

Upcoming Coffee Hours

I hope you can join me for one of my upcoming coffee hours! I look forward to having an informal conversation with you about the issues facing families in our community. Please stay tuned to this enews for details.

Additionally, if you missed our town halls last week, you can watch the recordings on my Facebook page. Our first town hall focused on landlord/ tenant issues with special guests from MSHDA, and our second focused on utilities with special guests from DTE and the Coalition to Keep Michigan Warm. Please feel free to share these recording with friends and family members that would find them useful.

Executive Budget Update

I joined Michigan House Democrats in applauding the economic and education priorities outlined by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in her budget presentation to the Legislature.

The executive budget, which the Legislature will now review, calls for significant increases in economic recovery and education funding – marking the largest investment in K-12 schools in Michigan to date.

The executive budget priorities include:

  • $200 million for schools faced with declining enrollment.
  • $370 million for increased access to affordable child care.
  • $300 million to fix Michigan bridges.
  • $120 million for the Michigan Reconnect program.
  • $60 million for the Futures for Frontliners program.
  • $120 million for summer learning options, including school and camps.
  • $55 million for a statewide Filters First program.
  • Making the $2/hour wage increase for direct care workers permanent.
  • Covering the cost for sickle cell anemia treatment for all Michigan residents who need it.
  • Increased revenue sharing for local government.

COVID-19 Vaccine

To date, Michigan has administered over 1 million COVID-19 vaccinations. As access to vaccinations increases, we will continue inoculating as many Michiganders as possible. For the most up-to-date vaccination information, visit  Michigan.gov/COVIDVaccine.

You can also visit the Wayne County website here for more detailed information on vaccine distribution in Wayne County.

Please know that although vaccine distribution has been slower than we would like, I am working hard in Lansing to ensure that everyone who wants a vaccine can get one.