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

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government last week continued its budget work with a presentation on the fiscal year 2023 proposal for the Department of State.

There are serious concerns over the secretary of state’s proposal to increase fees charged to access records, including vehicle registration data. The budget, as proposed by the governor, would increase fee collection on these items to over $19 million.

It is also worth noting that the secretary of state is legally responsible for reporting the financial records of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to the Legislature on a quarterly basis. As of the subcommittee hearing last week, those financial reports had not been received by the Legislature or the legislative fiscal agencies.

This is a dereliction of the secretary’s duty to the public; this information is especially important in light of media reports that the commission is running a deficit.

Click here to watch the committee hearing. The meeting starts at 2:40 into the video.

The Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee heard testimony on a nine-bill package that aims to reconfigure and update the state’s Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry, also known as the central registry, used for child abuse reporting and offender tracking.

The bipartisan effort is being led by the House. State representatives outlined the need for reforms as the registry system has caused distinct difficulties for Michigan custodial parents and caretakers who end up on the list at the behest of Children’s Protective Services if a file is opened on them.

This has made the list too large and unwieldy to effectively be used to find people who would be considered active dangers to children. It has also turned away many willing and wonderful people from participating in foster care. Rep. Luke Meerman said he was unnerved by a state agency having the power to place people on a list without any oversight or a mechanism in place to be removed from it.

Click here to watch the committee hearing on House Bills 5274-5280, 5534 and 5594. The meeting starts at 3:10 into the video.

I want to caution readers that the testimony contains some descriptions of child abuse.

Last week, I voted to send the governor a $2.5 billion tax cut plan to reduce Michigan workers’ personal income tax rates, provide families with a $500 per child tax credit, and protect more income for Michigan’s seniors.

Many families and seniors in West Michigan and across our state continue to face significant challenges due to the highest inflation in 40 years. This plan would provide them with substantial tax relief.

Our state government is overflowing with record federal dollars and state tax revenues, and providing important relief to the good people of our state should be the first step in putting our historic resources to positive use to improve our state.

The fact is that the Michigan people need this relief more than they need more government. Unfortunately, the governor has indicated that she’ll veto this important measure. I hope she’ll reconsider and instead sign this bill to reduce the tax burdens on hardworking families and seniors on fixed incomes.

Senate Bill 768 would reduce the state’s personal income tax back to 3.9% and create a $500 tax credit for each child under the age of 19. The legislation would also increase the tax deduction for seniors up to $40,000 for individuals and $80,000 for couples and lower the age of eligibility from 67 to 62.