Capitol & Community Update

Hello,

I am excited to welcome you to my office’s first official e-newsletter! I know you probably get a lot of emails, and I want to make sure I’m not bogging down your inbox, while also keeping you informed. With that in mind, it will be our goal to send these updates monthly. Within this issue you can find information about legislation, crucial votes I’ve taken, upcoming events I am hosting, and other useful information. Most importantly, there is also contact information that will allow you to correspond with my office via phone or email. My staff and I have already been quite busy responding to constituent correspondence, and we are so grateful for the many people making their voices heard.

It has already been an exciting first three months serving you at the Capitol, where we have been hard at work. We have already passed legislation to ease financial burdens on families and seniors, which is something I am very proud of. I was honored to be appointed chair of the House Committee on Economic Development and Small Business. As a first-term state representative, this is a great honor I do not take lightly. Economic development and supporting our small businesses are two of several passions that called me to public office. The communities and small businesses of Farmington, Farmington Hills, Lathrup Village, Oak Park and Southfield are the lifeblood of our district, as well as the state of Michigan. It is my hope that we can work together, as a committee, to enact policies to strengthen the economy — and most importantly, the people of our great state.

I was also given the great honor of introducing one of the first six bills of the new democratic majority in the House. Working alongside state Sen. Jeremy Moss, we’ve introduced the amendment to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act that will formally enshrine protections for the LGBTQ+ community into law. This bill was signed into law this week — a historic victory for civil rights in Michigan.

I want to encourage you, again, to please reach out to my office to make your voice heard. Please contact me at JasonHoskins@house.mi.gov or call (517) 373-1180. Democracy only works so long as the people are heard, and you have my promise — whether we agree or not — that my staff and I will always be here to listen to the voices of constituents.

Thank you,

Jason Hoskins
State Representative
18th House District

In this issue:

Our New 18th House District
Committee Assignments
Upcoming Community Conversations
Constituent Concerns
- Gun Violence Prevention
- DTE and Power Outages
Legislative Update
Press Releases/Statements

Our New 18th House District

As many of you may know, we are part of a new state House District, which was finalized last year. The district numbers and lines have changed from previous years. The 18th House District contains portions of Farmington, Farmington Hills and Oak Park, along with Lathrup Village and the majority of Southfield. Please see the map below to be sure you’re a resident of the 18th House District. If you’re not and you want to find out who your state representative is, please go to: www.house.mi.gov/#findarepresentative

You can also feel free to reach out to our office; my staff has been hard at work helping constituents and referring people to their new legislators, and we are happy to help.

Committee Assignments

I have been assigned to serve on the following committees:

Economic Development and Small Business (Chair)
Ethics and Oversight
Judiciary
Local Government and Municipal Finance
Transportation, Mobility, and Infrastructure

Upcoming Community Conversations

If you are a resident of the 18th House District and you’re looking to meet with me in person and share your concerns, I hope you’ll attend one of these free events:

Southfield Fourth Monday Community Conversations
Join me at the Southfield Public Library Auditorium on the fourth Monday of each month from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. My staff and I will be sharing helpful information and updates for constituents.

Monday, March 20, at 5:30 p.m., Southfield Public Library, 26300 Evergreen Road, Southfield, MI

Save the Dates!
This recurring event will also take place on these upcoming Mondays:

April 24, May 22, June 26, July 24, Aug. 28, Sept. 25 and Oct. 23, unless otherwise noted.

Constituent Concerns

One of the goals in this newsletter is to share the issues I have heard about the most from constituents as well as my current standpoint. If you have any questions, please reach out to my office.

Gun Violence Prevention

After the tragic mass shooting at Michigan State University, the topic of gun violence prevention has been one of the top issues our office has been hearing about from constituents who overwhelmingly want action from their legislators to make our schools and streets safer. However, we have received a few emails from constituents, but even more from people who don’t live in our district, in favor of not changing the laws at all in response to this shooting. To be clear, law-abiding gun owners have nothing to fear from commonsense gun legislation. You can find more information about my response to the MSU shooting further down in this email in the ‘Press Releases’ section. I have been very clear that I will not sit idly by while students continue to be gunned down in areas that are supposed to be safe havens of learning, and I have voted in support of gun violence prevention bills both in my role as a member of the Judiciary Committee and as a legislator during House session.

DTE and Power Outages
We have received several messages from constituents who have been without power — some for as many as six days — and have been working hard to get solutions for them. We have also heard many calls for DTE to be held accountable for the reliability of its service. In order to make our constituents’ voices heard, our office worked to assemble these complaints into a file to submit as part of the DTE hearing that took place in the House Energy, Communications, and Technology Committee meeting this week. We are exploring every opportunity to hold DTE accountable here in Lansing.

If you need support during a power outage, please do not hesitate to contact my office, as we are here to serve you. You can also contact DTE by using the steps below:

Report an outage immediately by on DTE’s website at outage.dteenergy.com/report-outage, submitting a report via the DTE Mobile app or calling DTE at (800) 477-4747.
If there’s an immediate emergency, please dial 911.
Stay updated on the current status of outages by visiting DTE’s Outage Center online at outage.dteenergy.com.

Legislative Update

I have been proud to vote in support of many bills, some of which have already been signed into law. A summary of the legislation I voted in favor of is below:

House Bill 4001 – Individual income tax; retirement or pension benefits; limitations and restrictions on deductions of certain retirement or pension benefits, revenue distributions, earned income tax credit, rebate payments, rebate and revitalization and placemaking funds; revise, increase, and provide for. (Rep. Angela Witwer)
Senate Bill 7 – Appropriations; supplemental; appropriations for multiple departments and branches for fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023; provide for. (Sen. Sarah Anthony)
Senate Bill 13 – Elections; presidential primary; presidential primary election date; revise. (Sen. Jeremy Moss)
Senate Bill 8 – Appropriations; supplemental; supplemental appropriations in the school aid act for fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. (Sen. Sarah Anthony)
House Bill 4006 – Crimes: abortion; penalty for administering with intent to procure miscarriage and advertisement or sale of certain drugs; repeal. Repeals secs. 14 & 15 of 1931 PA 328. (Rep. Laurie Pohutsky)
House Bill 4004 – Labor: collective bargaining; requirement for agency fee for nonunion members; allow in bargaining agreements and as conditions of employment in the public sector. Amends secs. 9, 10 & 15 of 1947 PA 336. (Rep. Regina Weiss)
House Bill 4007 – Labor: hours and wages; prevailing wage; reenact. Creates a new act. (Rep. Brenda Carter)

Press Releases and Statements

Please find links to my recent press release and statements below: