In February, the governor released her budget recommendations for fiscal year 2025. Some recommendations laid out in her budget proposal, like redirecting $670 million from the state’s teacher retirement plan to pay for more government spending, were short-sighted and out of touch. Since her proposal, the Michigan Legislature started crafting and negotiating what will soon become our state’s budget.

In the Michigan Senate, individual department budgets have been passing through their prospective subcommittees and the Senate Appropriations Committee on their way to the Senate floor, where they will soon be voted on by the full Senate.

There are still weeks to come before a final budget is sent to the governor for her signature. As the minority vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will continue to advocate and negotiate for taxpayers’ dollars to go toward fiscally responsible and equitable investments that help make Michigan a better place to live and work.

Earlier this month, the state announced an additional $290 million from the 2002 voter-approved Great Lakes Water Quality Protection Bond. The funding will be divided between the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water Revolving Fund, which offer loans and low-interest financing for critical water infrastructure improvements, such as lead line replacement, upgrades to drinking and wastewater plants, and improvements to sewer systems.

The $290 million marks the largest non-budget infusion into the State Revolving Funds since the passing of my Senate Bill 565, now Public Act 53 of 2022. Under my bipartisan infrastructure plan, $4.7 billion was allocated to address many critical infrastructure needs across the state and $1.265 billion was invested directly into the State Revolving Fund.

Since 2015, a network of volunteer water quality monitoring programs has worked together to gather information about water quality and fish habitat conditions on Michigan’s nearly 11,000 inland lakes.

The MiCorps Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program is a community science effort made up of volunteers who enjoy spending time on Michigan’s lakes and want to help contribute to their long-term care.

Water monitor volunteers are provided with detailed instructions, training, and equipment to take samples from lakes they frequent. They collect data like water clarity, nutrients, the presence of invasive species, native plants, and shoreline conditions. The information is added to the MiCorps Data Exchange, a public database used by people, local communities and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to better protect and manage our beautiful lakes, fish and wildlife.

New volunteers are welcome. Visit the programs enrollment webpage for more information.

The Going PRO Talent Fund awards employers with funding to assist in training, developing, and retaining current employees or hiring new employees. The training would need to be short-term and businesses looking for support under the fund would need to demonstrate a need within their company.

Awards are distributed through the state’s Michigan Works! agencies. Michigan Works! business service staff are tasked with fact-finding, assessing talent gaps, finding training providers, and assessing the availability of federal funds.

Applications are now open and will close at 5 p.m. on May 10. For more information or to start the application process, visit Going PRO Talent Fund.

Since 1999, more than 1 million people in the U.S. have died from a drug overdose. Since 2021, more than 75% of overdose deaths involved an opioid. In Michigan, the opioid death rate increased by an average of 13.9% each year from 2000 to 2020.

The state of Michigan, joined with other states, filed lawsuits against companies that manufactured, sold, or distributed prescription painkillers for their role in fueling the opioid crisis. Settlements in many of these lawsuits have been reached with corporations like Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart. Funds from these settlements are to be distributed to the state and local units of government for opioid-use disorder treatment and remediation.

The Michigan Department of Attorney General has launched a new website to help residents and local units of government find multiple sources of information in one place. Information housed on the site includes: