My friends, we knew it wouldn’t be long before the tea-swilling House GOP made a sharp right turn away from the more moderate Gov. Rick Snyder.
Like your rhetorical Garmin, Rep. Dave Agema will guide you on the sharpest of turns.
Dear Colleagues:
Beginning today, I will have several bills available for co-sponsorship in my office.
- A bill that would require that Bridge Cards have a picture ID placed on the card itself by DHS before it is recognized as valid. Presently, cards are traded for money with nothing more than the owner of the card giving the buyer a 4 digit PIN number for usage.
- A package of bills that would change our current oil and gas leasing distribution. One resolution to change the constitution and two additional enactment bills that would redirect the proceeds from the leasing of gas and oil mineral rights on state property.
- A bill that simply insures that state contracts are performed by employees that are here legally. It also discourages employers that bid on state contracts from laying off legal workers for illegal workers.
- A bill that requires a personnel agency, a licensed agent, or an employee of a personnel agency to use the e-verify system or a successor system authorized by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service to prove an individual is authorized to work in the US before referring him or her to an employer.
- A bill to amend the general sales tax act to direct the sales tax revenue collected on the sale at retail of computer software at the rate of 4% currently going to the Michigan Health Initiative Fund to the Michigan Aeronautics Fund.
- A bill that would redirect the sales tax money not already earmarked from the sale of aviation fuel and products to the State Aeronautics Fund for use in funding our airport systems. This would not impact the SAF or revenue sharing.
- A bill to amend the general property tax act. The bill would state that the definition of conveyance for property under land contract is only completed when the actual full physical title transfers to the purchasing party.
- Require mass transit agencies that take funds from the CTF (Comprehensive Transportation Fund) to take at least 20% of the cost of operations from the fare box. In other words, they will be subsidized no more than 80%. If such agencies do not charge enough to cover 20% of their costs, their funding will be reduced by the difference of 20% and the percent received.
I welcome your co-sponsorship on any of these bills.
Sincerely,
Dave Agema
State Representative
Aside from the preponderance of items dealing with Agema’s pet issue, illegal immigration, and a few related to aviation (Agema is a former pilot who still carries an “I’m flying to Houston in 20 minutes and these are my clothes” duffel bag around the Capitol), the proposals seem pretty harmless.
LANSING — A bill submitted by state Rep. Dave Agema (R-Grandville) that would eliminate state funding for HIV prevention and other important health initiatives, is raising alarms in the public health community.
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Agema says he is recommending the shift of money to the Michigan Aeronautics Fund (MAF) because that will help pay for upkeep and expansion projects at Michigan airports. The fund would pay for runway upkeep, building upkeep and expansion of airports to accommodate more shipping and receiving into airports.
“This is so we don’t have to raise the fuel tax on our airplanes,” says Agema, a former airline pilot.
Oh, I get it. Instead of preventing the spread of HIV, we should focus on helping “No New Taxes” lawmakers keep their campaign promises. Yes, my friends, that’s reinvention you can believe in.