Dear neighbor,

When I went to Lansing, I pledged to do all I can to make a difference for families and the most vulnerable in our communities. In the last few weeks I’ve introduced legislation to provide a child tax credit for hardworking families, invest in programs to help kids struggling with dyslexia, fight human trafficking, and more.

Continue reading to learn further about these commonsense solutions, as well as my ongoing work to get answers for families who lost loved ones to COVID-19 in nursing homes.

As always, my office is here to serve you. My staff and I continue to work on unemployment and other constituent cases to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and make a difference. Please contact my office at 517-373-1758 any time for assistance.

Working with and for you,

Senator Jim Runestad
Serving the 15th State Senate District

Last week I introduced legislation that would provide financial relief to families through a child tax credit. Senate Bill 378 would allow taxpayers to claim a tax credit up to $500 per qualified dependent starting this tax year.

Working families are struggling. Many extra costs over the last year would be offset by this credit, which will provide timely tax relief while incentivizing hard work. When I came to Lansing, I promised to make a difference for families and the most vulnerable. This legislation does both. Working families are the backbone of our state and our future. A child tax credit will provide targeted tax relief for families in need.

SB 378 would establish a nonrefundable, $500 tax credit that can be claimed for each dependent through the age of 19. The tax credit would allow taxpayers to get back their own money paid on their taxes, dollar for dollar, up to the $500 per dependent. The credit comes with a four-year sunset, so Michiganders could claim the credit for tax years 2021 through 2024.

This week the Senate Finance Committee advanced my legislation to the Senate floor with a unanimous vote. Click here to learn more.

By addressing dyslexia, we can make a meaningful difference for some of our most vulnerable students and their families.

Last week, a group of Republican and Democrat senators were able to join me in introducing legislation that would finally help schools get the direction they need to help students with dyslexia. Right now, Michigan has no statewide strategy to help these students, so this help is long overdue. My measure, Senate Bill 383, would establish an advisory committee with expertise to guide our public schools to make sure no students fall through the cracks. Other legislation in the package includes:

Last Thursday, the K-12 appropriations subcommittee also proposed a budget that includes half a million dollars for direct instruction to teachers on how to help students with dyslexia learn to read, as well as over $30 million for literacy coaches across the state. It also would provide safeguards for structured literacy instruction to help ensure all Michigan children can become better readers.

Read more about the dyslexia bill package.

I have introduced legislation that would give local school districts more independence to organize their own upcoming high school graduation ceremonies.

Senate Bill 335 would establish that emergency “lockdown” orders issued by the state health department do not limit a high school graduation commencement ceremony held during this school year to honor the graduating class of 2020 or 2021.

Graduation should be a grand celebration of what students have accomplished. It is important that families be able to celebrate. SB 335 is before the Senate Education and Career Readiness Committee, where I hope it gets a hearing sooner rather than later.

Human trafficking cases happen all around us, and often they are very hard to identify. That is why I introduced Senate Bill 337, which would help law enforcement more easily work together to identify possible cases of human trafficking.

This bill would revise the Standard Domestic Violence Incident Report Form to allow police to indicate whether they are also investigating for human trafficking — which would help law enforcement work together to make a difference for the most vulnerable.

Human trafficking can involve either involuntary servitude or commercial sex trafficking, and some instances may look like domestic violence incidents at first. The victims are often moved from place to place, which keeps them vulnerable and prevents access to social services and the ability to establish relationships with local law enforcement. Including these additional details in the reporting form will help us track how officers are investigating for human trafficking as a component of domestic violence.

Learn more about my legislation.

If you know of someone who would like to know about what’s going on in Lansing, please forward this email on to a friend! And if you know of anyone who could use help with a state matter, please don’t hesitate to have them reach out to my office at any time!

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