Dear Friends,

To better serve the people of the 30th Senate District, I am offering this “Week in Review.” 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

Last week, I toured Hudsonville Ice Cream’s tasty operations in Holland.

Hudsonville Ice Cream is a community staple and point of pride for West Michigan – making a wide variety of classic and creative premium ice cream products and distributing them to stores throughout the region. They also make and distribute dairy products for other brands. During my visit, we saw them make chocolate fudge Greek yogurt bars for Yasso.

We discussed challenges they face and opportunities from recent partnerships to export more Hudsonville products beyond Michigan.

The School Bond Loan Fund was created to allow qualifying school districts to receive loans from the state to make infrastructure improvements. This helps districts that are unable to issue bonds or receive loans from the open market because their credit rating may not be strong enough or because it may simply be too expensive.

The current 3% minimum interest rate has been in statute to help the state fund stay afloat so it can pay its debt and continue to make loans to districts. However, the state Department of Treasury has determined it can operate the program while requiring a lower amount of interest payments on those loans.

The Senate last week passed my bill, Senate Bill 618, which would eliminate the required 3% minimum rate. It could help schools see significant savings and greatly reduce the burden on local taxpayers. With rising inflation, we need to find savings on the local levels everywhere we can.

Click here to watch my testimony, along with Chris Glass of Education Advocates of West Michigan, before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the bill. The meeting starts at 3:20 into the video.

The Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee last week heard testimony and passed legislation to amend and update the requirements for admittance to the State Bar of Michigan.

House Bill 5541 would switch Michigan to the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) and allow an applicant to use a portable uniform bar examination score for admittance to the bar. The UBE is administered by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and contains a multistate portion that Michigan already utilizes, an essay portion, and a practical application section.

Under the bill, Michigan-specific law would be tested through an expanded essay portion as determined by the Michigan Board of Law Examiners.

Click here to watch the committee hearing. The testimony on HB 5541 starts at 17:00 into the video.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government last week took alarming testimony from the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

I am very concerned about the revenue generated from Michigan online gambling. The amount of state revenue from online gambling is more than 10 times what had been predicted.

Internet gambling generated over $131 million in 2021 and is expected to bring in $175 million this year.

I opposed this legislation when it passed in 2019 due to the damages it could cause to family budgets and stability. As the chairman of this subcommittee, it is my intention to take some of this ill-gotten revenue and invest in gambling addiction help and awareness campaigns to combat the overflow of online gambling advertisements that are flooding our billboards, radios, and social media platforms.

Click here to watch the subcommittee hearing. The hearing starts at 2:15 into the video and the testimony from the Michigan Gaming Control Board begins at 16:50.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development last week took testimony on my measure to use $1.4 billion to secure our local food supply, lower our grocery bills, invest in our hometowns and remove roadblocks that have historically limited rural economic development.

We heard from a diverse group of agriculture stakeholders, including Farm Bureau President Carl Bednarski and Greenstone President Dave Armstrong, on the statewide impact Senate Bill 885 would have. West Michigan’s own Jennifer Owens of Lakeshore Advantage discussed the economic losses we have faced in Ottawa County because of the historical lack of state investment into rural communities and hometowns.

Michigan needs to grow and process more food products locally in our state. One example of the problem is a cattle farmer who needs to drive animals three hours for harvesting due to a lack of regionally based harvesting facilities.

My bill prioritizes local growing, processing, and distribution for Michigan produce and food products to shorten the time and distance to store shelves – including $350 million for food distribution security and stability grants and $75 million to support the stability and expansion of Michigan’s agriculture supply chain businesses like protein processing plants.

Click here to watch the subcommittee hearing. The meeting starts at 3:00 into the video.

The city of Grand Haven will hire a contractor to rehabilitate the Grand Haven South Pier Entrance and Inner Lights thanks to a $60,00 Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program (MLAP) grant from the State Historic Preservation Office.

The proposed work will include the repair of the exterior concrete wall and deck surfaces; restoring the exterior concrete stairs; restoring the concrete curb and installing new metal flashing; and repainting. The city will invest $76,409 into the project.

“The Grand Haven Lighthouse Conservancy continues its partnership work of raising funds and awareness to make sure these treasures are the best they can be. The grant from the MLAP will supplement funds raised locally and are the next step in a multi-year approach to complete preservation and, soon, opening the lights regularly to public enjoyment,” said Grand Haven City Manager Pat McGinnis.

Funding for the MLAP comes solely from the sale of specialty Save Our Lights license plates. To date, SHPO has awarded nearly $2.8 million in matching funds to help rehabilitate and preserve lighthouses for tourists and residents alike to explore and appreciate. To learn more about lighthouse preservation in Michigan, visit www.Michigan.gov/SaveOurLights.