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

Last week was a full and busy week. It started with me giving the invocation to begin Senate session on Tuesday. As we meet to represent the people of Michigan in the Senate, it is important to reflect on our place in this world and ask for guidance as we make important decisions.

The Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee last week approved legislation to modernize our state’s Crime Victim’s Compensation Act to better support victims and their families.

The fund originally only compensated for physical injury. The bills’ changes would cover mental and emotional injuries by allowing for counseling and mental health services, relocation costs, and other expenses to help victims move forward and work toward a new normal.

House Bills 4674 and 4675 would raise the fund’s cap from the national low of $20,000 to better reflect the regional average at $45,000, increase the amount limitations on total claim amount, and expand the current one-year time frame for filing a claim, generally, to five years after the crime.

Crimes are not always reported and discovered right away. Their impacts and the injuries that stem from them are not always immediate and we should accommodate those scenarios, especially as we try to make the victims whole.

I am grateful for Rep. Bradley Slagh’s hard work on this legislation. The late Rep. William Van Regenmorter’s legacy and impact continue to inspire and lead our Ottawa County legislators.

Click here to watch the committee hearing. The hearing starts at 4:30 into the video.

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government reported a fiscal year 2023 budget plan to the full Senate Appropriations Committee.

Senate Bill 831 includes budgets for the Department of Attorney General, Department of Civil Rights, the Executive Office of the Governor, the Legislature, Department of State, the Department of Technology, Management and Budget and the Department of Treasury’s operational, debt service and revenue sharing budgets.

I want to highlight a $1.5 billion infusion in the bill to increase local revenue sharing by 10% for counties, cities, villages and townships. The budget plan does not include the governor’s proposal to increase record look-up fees from $11 per record to $15. The fee increase would have raised an extra $19 million but also increased the cost of issuing recall notices on vehicles, endangering all Michigan drivers at a time when our state is seeing historic revenues.

Funding in the bill would help fix the broken Unemployment Insurance Agency system that unfairly targets our small businesses and entrepreneurs who operate as independent contractors.

In 2016, I sponsored a law to better check and verify fraud within the agency. The UIA turned off those systems and penalized hardworking Michiganders because of it. Michigan has used a failing UIA system for too long, and the state needs to prioritize a more secure system that is more responsive and easier to use.

Click here to watch the subcommittee hearing. The hearing starts at 1:45 into the video.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) last week approved a plan for the department’s fiscal year 2023 budget. It now heads to the full Senate Appropriations Committee.

Senate Bill 827 includes $142 million in funding to strengthen our state’s agricultural sector.

The subcommittee’s plan continues operational funding for conservation districts, restarts the Select Michigan promotional program and features regional protein processor grants to invest in local harvesting and processing for Michigan livestock.

We need to shorten our food supply chain to drive down grocery costs and ensure that there is affordable available food for Michiganders to feed their families. Highlighting Michigan-grown produce at stores is important for our West Michigan blueberry growers who face increased market saturation from foreign imports.

Click here to watch the subcommittee hearing. The hearing starts at 1:40 into the video.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Did you know that text messaging requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention? It is the most dangerous distraction while driving. Public Acts 58, 59 and 60 of 2010 prohibit any activity that distracts a driver while operating a vehicle. Drivers charged with distracted driving will be fined $100 for a first offense and $200 for subsequent offenses. Be safe and don’t drive distracted!