A coalition of education groups launched a new ballot question committee, For MI Kids, For Our Schools, Wednesday to oppose the Betsy DeVos-led proposal to create a school voucher-style system that would use public tax dollars to fund private education.
Author: Michigan Advance
Monique Stanton writes, “Broad tax cuts, such as the Legislature’s move to reduce the personal income tax rate from 4.25% to 3.9%, are inequitable and funnel most of the benefits to the wealthiest Michigan residents.”
With the midterm elections looming, tax cuts are shaping up to be a major fight this year between Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the GOP-controlled Legislature.
In Michigan, Sunshine Week is often marked by promises of more transparency from our lawmakers in Lansing. But if the past is an indicator of the future, the Michigan Legislature won’t get too far past the talking phase.
The Michigan House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to pass a bill suspending the state’s “gas tax” until Sept. 30 in an effort to combat skyrocketing gas prices amid inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
From people who have lost those they love most in the world to COVID-19 to health care workers once hailed as heroes and now being spit on by patients angry over mask requirements and those known as “essential workers” who made poverty wages while having to endanger their own well-being to work in-person when others were isolating during the stay-home orders, people have dealt with a lot over the past two years.
A ballot committee seeking to alter the state’s term limits laws and bolster financial transparency in the Legislature launched last week with the help of a bipartisan array of political leaders as well as business, labor and community leaders in the state.
With just four days left before government funding expires, Democrats and Republicans are trying to reach agreement on $1.5 trillion in federal spending as well as billions more in assistance to Ukraine and COVID-19 relief.
Advocates told lawmakers last Thursday about the struggle of not having complete and accurate data to fully understand the scope of missing women of color because the federal government does not collect that data. In 2020, 40% of women and girls reported missing were of color, despite making up 16% of the population, according to the U.S. Census.
Emme Zanotti writes, “American moms and dads are being punished for loving their transgender children. Stop and think about that. The LGBTQ community is on the verge of access to vital familial and societal acceptance, but from Lansing to Washington D.C., Republicans are impeding that progress — by prosecuting parents.”
“What are they looking for? Every single one of them is different. Some auditors are looking for fame and fortune on YouTube and other auditors are looking for confrontation,” Deborah Mikula, executive director of the Michigan Library Association (MLA), said of first amendment auditors.
Critical shortages of computer chips used in cars and trucks are fueling a rift between automakers and their dealers, and the divide is likely to grow deeper as automakers make a radical shift to electric vehicles
President Joe Biden is planning to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, according to multiple media reports.
Should U.S. Fred Upton decide to run in the new Southwest Michigan district, it would set up a primary with U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland) and state Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers), who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
A new interactive map published by the University of Michigan found that students in Michigan who have experienced homelessness were two times more likely to be suspended or expelled than the statewide average of students who were suspended or expelled.
A group of gun safety advocates launched an “exploratory committee” last week to examine the possibility of a 2024 ballot initiative to pass some form of gun safety legislation if the Michigan Legislature fails to act on the issue themselves. The organization would like to see reforms on universal background checks, safe storage measures, red flag laws, and prohibitions on guns at government buildings like the state Capitol.
The bills package would mandate that K-12 public schools, charters schools, and intermediate school districts incorporate curriculum lessons on Asian American and Pacific Islanders; Latin Americans, Hispanic Americans Caribbean Americans; Indigenous Peoples and Native Americans; and Middle Easterners and Chaldeans starting in the 2022-23 school year.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s new budget plan will include a 5% funding hike for Michigan’s 15 public universities and 28 community colleges — the highest increase in decades. Universities would have to cap tuition increases.