Dear Neighbor,
Welcome to my e-newsletter! I’m honored and humbled to serve as our community’s voice at the Capitol in Lansing. As we continue the term, rest assured that the challenges families in our community and state are facing are at the top of my legislative priorities.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to my office by phone at (517) 373-0152 or email at AmosONeal@house.mi.gov if we can help.
Sincerely,
Amos O’Neal
State Representative, 95th House District
In this issue:
- Community Conversation – June 16, 6 p.m.
- Gun Violence Awareness Day
- Ford Investment
- Legislation
- HB 5859 – Private School Vouchers
Upcoming Community Conversation
Please join us on June 16 at 6 p.m. on Facebook Live. I will give a brief legislative update. Afterward, we will have a conversation with the Gamma Kappa Kudos: Men of Excellence in Saginaw. Our special guests from the organization will be Jordan Simpson, Alexander Brazil and Jaiden McClain.
We hope to save some time for Q & A, so come with questions for our guests. You can join us on Facebook Live by clicking here or searching @StateRepAmosONeal.
Gun Violence Awareness Day
Last week on June 3, we had Gun Violence Awareness Day, a somber time to reflect on the horrible tragedies Americans face due to gun violence and a day to take action to make sure guns don’t end up in the wrong hands.
Children deserve to know they’re safe when they go to school. Couples shouldn’t be afraid of going to the movies. We’re fighting for a future free from gun violence, and the state Legislature needs to act. As a member of the Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention Caucus, we have been working for months to move many bills that would better keep Michiganders safe. So many have been halted by Republican leadership, and now is the time that we put an end to this before another tragedy occurs. It is our duty to act now.
Ford Investment
At the Policy Conference last week on Mackinac Island, Gov. Whitmer announced that Ford would be investing $2 billion in Michigan with the recent approval of $100 million through the Michigan Strategic Fund. The new Ford Ranger Truck and Mustang will be produced with this money at assembly plants in Michigan that will create around 3,200 jobs. This is amazing news and great work that Michigan is doing to stay competitive and transition to electric vehicles, while still maintaining our manufacturing jobs. It is important that we continue to make these types of investments for our future to keep these partnerships strong and our economic infrastructure competitive.
House Bill 5859 – Private School Vouchers
This week in session, the House voted on HB 5859 that would create a new act to establish a program to provide grants for students whose education had been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem with this legislation is, if passed, it would have allowed the use of public funds on private businesses. This would mean that our public tax dollars would be going towards private vouchers.
The Michigan Department of Education, Michigan Association of School Boards, Middle Cities Education Association, Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals and the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators were all against this bill. I am so happy to see most of my colleagues stand against this and was grateful to see the bill voted down.
