Dear Friends:

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you and provide updates about what is going on at Michigan’s Capitol.

I am the state senator for the 18th District – covering all of Barry County and parts of Allegan, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, Kent and Ionia counties. Please feel free to contact me with any issues related to state government at SenTAlbert@senate.michigan.gov, or by calling 517-373-1734 or toll-free at 855-347-8018.

Sincerely,

Thomas Albert
State Senator

A bipartisan legislative package I helped sponsor — designed to improve traffic safety in Michigan — continues to gain momentum.

Senate Bill 217 and House Bill 4334 were unanimously approved by the House Judiciary Committee in late September. The bills now advance to the House floor for further consideration. I am hopeful this signals that the legislation could be finalized by the end of the year, although much work remains to make that a reality.

The bills would expand and simplify Michigan’s “Slow Down and Move Over” law while providing stiffer penalties for incidents harming vulnerable roadway users such as pedestrians, bicyclists and law enforcement officers.

There is a significant need for this legislation. Serious crashes involving vulnerable roadway users continued to increase in 2025, according to Michigan State Police statistics. Fatalities involving bicyclists rose 21%, with 35 deaths. Fatalities involving pedestrians rose 18% to 184. Twenty-four people died in crashes in roadway work zones.

The Michigan Legislature has approved new laws designed to fight retail fraud related to gift cards.

It’s a growing problem.

The Federal Trade Commission received more than 40,000 fraud reports involving gift cards and prepaid cards in 2024 — totaling more than $200 million in losses. Sometimes these scams are run online by tricking victims into buying cards and handing over the card number and PIN to the criminal. Another method is called card draining, where the criminal steals card information before the card is purchased, waits for a legitimate buyer to acquire the card, then spends the funds before the legitimate buyer can do so.

House Bills 4598 and 4599 seek to better protect Michigan consumers by prohibiting gift card fraud. The following actions will be illegal:

I supported these changes to help deter a crime that is becoming more prevalent. Offenses will be a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both.

Michigan’s deer hunting season kicked into high gear with the start of archery season on Oct. 1.

Here are a few important reminders:

As Michigan shifts its youth work permit system from local schools to the government, the state is launching a new Youth Employment Permit Portal (YEPP) to help students and employers complete the work permit process online.

Until now, schools have been responsible for issuing youth employment permits for workers under 18. Beginning this month, the process has moved to the centralized online portal.

I voted against this change because I believe the school-based system was working well, and I worry that forcing the system into a state-run bureaucracy will prompt some employers to stop offering jobs to teens. But I want to make sure that kids, their families and employers have the latest information and tools available to them.

Click here for more information about the Youth Employment Permit Portal.

With school well underway across Michigan, it’s a good time for drivers and families to review the rules for sharing the road with school buses.

The Michigan State Police offers these safety tips for students getting on and off the bus:

Drivers should also use extra caution when sharing the road with school buses: