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

Last week Tuesday, the state Senate held its 26th Annual Memorial Day Service to pay tribute to the Michigan service members who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our country. This ceremony is normally held the Thursday before Memorial Day, but it had to be rescheduled for outdoors due to state restrictions during the planned period.

We had a beautiful day for a wonderful service to honor the brave heroes who fought and died to preserve our freedom and way of life. I hope we never forget their sacrifice.

You can watch a video of the entire ceremony by clicking here or clicking on the image below.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee continued hearings on proposed police improvement measures.

We heard from Wayne County Undersheriff Daniel Pfannes on behalf of the Michigan Sheriff’s Association and Tim Bourgeois, the executive director of the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) on specific needs for MCOLES to better serve and support police officers.

As I said when we started this committee process, the vast majority of police officers in Michigan are courageous people who serve our communities with honor and distinction. It is very important to me that anything we do has a positive impact on our law enforcement officers and our communities and avoids any potential unintended consequences that could make it harder for them to protect our families.

I want to continue to thank our law enforcement leaders for their help and their unique viewpoints on how we can take the best practices from many of our local agencies and apply them statewide. Undersheriff Pfannes testified that several of the bills could be acceptable if certain clarifying language and improvements were made.

We must ensure we can continue to recruit dedicated officers, train them to meet our high expectations of fairness and justice, and retain good officers who risk their lives every day to keep our families safe.

You can click here to watch the committee hearing.

On Thursday, the Senate Agriculture Committee began testimony on Senate Bill 494, which would continue the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) and renew the fees paid by farmers and agriculture businesses to support the program.

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 productive agricultural resources.

Among the groups showing support at the hearing were the Dairy Farmers of America, GreenStone Farm Credit Services, Michigan Agri-Business Association, Michigan Allied Poultry Industries, Michigan Corn Growers Association, Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Michigan Pork Producers Association, Michigan Soybean Association, Michigan Vegetable Council, and Potato Growers of Michigan.

Michigan Farm Bureau Agriculture Ecology Manager Laura Campbell told the panel that within the last three years, more than 12,000 farms have started the process of working through MAEAP. This is in addition to the nearly 3,500 farms that have completed 6,000 verifications.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is opposed to the bills as currently written, but they failed to show up for the hearing to give the committee their suggestions to improve the legislation. The Michigan Environmental Council was the only group to speak in opposition and expressed concerns about liability and funding.

You can click here to watch the committee hearing.

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.