Progress Michigan blog posts.
Who is he? Rep. Darrin Camilleri represents the 23rd District, including Gibraltar, Grosse Ile, Huron, Trenton, Woodhaven, and Brownstown. He currently serves as the Minority Whip and previously served on the Education Reform, Energy Policy, and Commerce and Trade Committees. Rep. Camilleri was elected in 2016 at age 24, the youngest Latino and first…
Who is he? Rep. Yousef Rabhi was first elected to the House in 2016 to represent the 53rd district, which includes parts of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Township, Pittsfield Township, and Scio Township. He currently serves as the Democratic Floor Leader. During his college years, Rep. Rabhi was an activist in the peace, labor,…
Who is he? Rep. Jon Hoadley represents Michigan’s 60th house district, including parts of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Township, and Portage. He serves on the following committees: House Appropriations, House Fiscal Agency Governing, General Government, Health and Human Services, and Higher Education and Community College Appropriations. Before his election to the House in 2014, Hoadley worked…
Monte Scott, a 12-year-old in Muskegon, made headlines this week with his efforts to fix the damn roads by filling potholes in his neighborhood. On the surface, Scott’s story is an aspirational one, where a kid who has watched his mother struggle with repair bills decides to step up and do his part to help…
This week, Michigan’s minimum wage will be raised to $9.45 in the first of a dozen annual increases building up to a $12.05 minimum wage in 2030. It’s good news on the surface—but not nearly as good as it should have been. Though the law passed last December, this story really starts last summer, when…
Last week, the Michigan Carpenters announced plans to build a $30 million training center in metro Detroit. The facility will offer classroom instruction and job training to Detroit residents through a free apprenticeship program designed to give them the skills they need to succeed in the trade. This endeavor is a significant investment in the…
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield criticized the lack of detail in Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s hour-long State of the State address. This week, House Republicans put out their own plan, which offers approximately zero details. The 2019 action plan starts with a section on roads, which doesn’t really say…
“I will veto bills designed to cut out the public’s right of referendum.” This quote from Governor Gretchen Whitmer came in the middle of a State of the State speech full of great moments, so it might not have stood out to everyone—but it represents an important promise to stand up for the people’s right…
This morning, House Speaker Lee Chatfield and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey delivered a response to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s State of the State address, and because we don’t think you should have to sit through it, we’re bringing you the highlights. First on the agenda: Fixing the damn roads. The discussion consisted mainly of Chatfield…
This week, Governor Gretchen Whitmer an executive order to make a few key changes in her administration, most notably restructuring the MDEQ to focus on keeping our water clean and doing away with an environmental panel designed to let businesses regulate themselves. To most people, these moves seem like common sense—after all, we all want…