Dear Friends,

To better serve the people of the 30th Senate District, I will now offer this “Week in Review” that I will be sending out every week. I hope you will find it informative about what is happening in Lansing.

I encourage you to contact me with any state issue. You may call 517-373-6920 or email [email protected].  Also, please check out my Facebook page. Let me know if I can assist you in any way or if you have an idea to help move our state forward.

Working for you,
Roger Victory
State Senator

On Tuesday last week, I welcomed the 2021 class of Grand Haven Leadership Connect to the state Capitol for their State Government Day.

I spoke with them in the Senate Office Building about the issues facing our community and what we are working on in the Legislature to address those issues. The group also toured the Capitol building and heard a presentation from the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency.

Leadership Connect is affiliated with the Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Ferrysburg Chamber of Commerce and is a leadership development program held annually to build personal leadership skills and raising community awareness.

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee heard testimony on measures to restore a second judge position to circuit count in Marquette County and reduce the number of drug traffickers moving money through Michigan airports.

House Bill 4656 would allow the Marquette Circuit Court to have two judges instead of the current one judge. Since 2011, when one of the judgeships was recommended to be eliminated, area caseloads have increased and the number of felony cases has doubled.

HBs 4631 and 4632 would lower the threshold for airport law enforcement officers to confiscate bulk cash believed to be smuggled from $50,000 to $20,000. The goal of the bills is to crack down on drug trafficking while still ensuring people like vacationers lucky enough to win big in Vegas aren’t impacted.

All three bills were reported by the committee and now head to the full Senate for consideration.

You can click here to watch the committee hearing.

The one-time, once-in-a-lifetime funding from the federal government we are receiving should be used to make drastic, long-term investments that will benefit the good people of Michigan for generations to come. On Thursday, I co-sponsored legislation to do that while preserving our greatest natural resource — our water.

The plan dedicates $15 million to conduct surface water monitoring, provide incentives and cost-sharing funding for the implementation of Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) practices and help local conservation districts provide more services to those seeking MAEAP assistance.

I have long supported MAEAP as an effective voluntary program that works as a partnership between local farmers, our state universities and our state agencies to protect our water, environment and agricultural resources. Michigan farmers rely on clean water to grow the fresh and healthy food that we use to feed families here in Michigan and across America.

Senate Bill 565 would use $2.21 billion in federal American Recovery Plan funding and $290 million in repurposed state bond funds to make investments in dam infrastructure, wastewater systems, groundwater protection and providing clean drinking water.

In addition to the surface water monitoring and MAEAP support funding, the bill provides:

Below is a list of resources available to you if you need any type of assistance. Additionally, you can contact my office at any time for more information.