Dear Friends,
Hello, and welcome to my e-newsletter. I would like to take this moment to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve you in House District 95 and to act as your voice in the Capitol. In this issue you will find information on the following:
- Upcoming Coffee Hour
- Saginaw County Receives Funding for Road Repairs
- Online Voter Registration Bills Head to House Floor
- Saginaw’s Mobile Medical Response Inc. Recognized for Outstanding Work
As your representative, I am most effective at my job when acting on your input, and 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 toll-free at (855) 347-8095, by email at vanessaguerra@house.mi.gov or through my website, guerra.housedems.com. I look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for your commitment to the community we both call home.
Upcoming Coffee Hour
My coffee hours are a chance to sit down in an informal setting and discuss issues facing our state. My next coffee hour will be held on:
- Monday, April 9, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the James Township Hall, 6060 Swan Creek Road in Saginaw. Note: the coffee hour will take place directly before the monthly James Township Board of Trustees meeting.
If you can’t make it to the coffee hour, please feel free to contact me by email or phone. I hope to see you then!
Saginaw County Receives Funding for Road Repairs
Despite the Republican-sponsored 2015 roads plan promising to fix our roads, Michigan drivers pay more than $600 million per year while our roads have continued to deteriorate. As a result, earlier this week the governor signed into law emergency road funding to address our state’s crumbling infrastructure.
Under the new law, Saginaw County Road Commission will receive $1,360,915 to be used to repair more than 39 miles of roads in Saginaw County. The funding will be dispersed among many projects, including:
– Birch Run Road Chip and Seal from Sheridan Road to Birch Run Village Limits
– Center Road at State Street Rehabilitation
– Ditch Road Overlay from East to Sheridan (M-13)
– King Road Chip and Seal from Williamson Road to Reese Road
– Michigan and Tittabawassee Intersection Improvements
– Miller Road Resurfacing from State to River Road
– Shattuck Road Resurfacing from Center Road to Wieneke Road
– 19.88 miles of Crack Seal on various primary roads
I am proud to have voted in favor of this much-needed funding for our community’s roads and am committed to identifying solutions to fix our state’s infrastructure without having the burden fall on working families.
Online Voter Registration Bills Head to House Floor
Last week in the House Elections and Ethics Committee, I was proud to vote in favor of legislation that would create an electronic voter registration system in the state of Michigan. As of December 2017, 37 states and the District of Columbia offer online voter registration, in addition to Oklahoma, which has passed legislation to create this system but has yet to implement it.
Online voter registration systems would essentially follow the same process as the traditional paper-based process, but instead of filling out a paper application, the voter fills out a form online which is submitted electronically to election officials. Individuals who would be eligible to register to vote online would have to possess either a valid official state personal identification card or a driver’s license and be a citizen of the U.S. who is age 18 or older and has lived in Michigan for at least 30 days.
A person’s right to the ballot box is critical for our government to be of, by and for the people, and as much as possible we should be working to increase this access for all Michiganders. Allowing new voters to register or change their address online will make it easier for them to participate in the voting process, which is something we should all support.
House Bills 5548-5549 now await further action on the House floor.
Saginaw’s Mobile Medical Response Inc. Recognized for Outstanding Work
I was honored to help present the statewide Michigan Works! Association’s 2018 Impact Award to Saginaw County’s Mobile Medical Response Inc. (MMR) in Lansing last month. MMR supports 15 counties in mid-Michigan, and over the past year, it completed an average of nearly 275 transports every day. Due to its significant workload, MMR worked with Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works! to develop an effective hiring strategy, which included accelerated classroom training for entry-level emergency medical technicians, followed by a paramedic apprenticeship. MMR has an invaluable impact on our community and the surrounding area, and it could not be more deserving of this exciting achievement.