Senate Republican Priorities

Senate Republicans are making good on their promises. They are delivering substantial reforms to create jobs, reduce unnecessary regulations, and improve the quality of life for Michigan families.

Spur Job Growth

Reform Personal Property Tax
Cut Through the Red Tape for Business Growth
Rebuild Our Roads and Bridges

Strengthen Education

Increase Education Options

Protect the Rights of Citizens

Clarify Medical Marijuana
Ban Partial Birth Abortion
Senior Protection
Restore the American Dream

Continue Government Reforms

Make Government More Accountable
Insurance Reform

From the Senate Floor

Michigan Senate Republicans Floor Statements

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville addresses the full Senate and thanks them for their hard work and shared legislative accomplishments during 2011.

Recent Blogs from Senate Republicans

Free tax publications available (read)

REFORMING MICHIGAN

SENATE REPUBLICAN ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Senate Republicans are making good on their promises to improve our environment for economic recovery and job growth, to protect the rights of citizens, to improve educational opportunities for students and parents, and to streamline state government.
In the first half of the 2011-12 session, Senate Republicans have dramatically transformed the landscape of Michigan into a pro-jobs, pro-small business, pro-growth state.
The first year has set the tone for the next three years and there is much work yet to come.

SPUR JOB GROWTH

Replaced the Job Killing Michigan Business Tax

Cut job killing taxes on Michigan businesses by $1.7 billion and ended double taxation for more than 95,000 small business owners. Delivered the bulk of tax relief to those job providers responsible for creating the vast majority of jobs in the last 20 years.

Crafted Fair & Equitable Unemployment Insurance Reform

Extended unemployment benefits to the long-term out-of-work whose eligibility ran out after Christmas 2010. Reduced the burden on job providers who provide the sole funding of the state unemployment trust fund. The measure also cracks down on cheaters who collect unemployment benefits while working a new job, defrauding the system $100 to $150 million per year.

Paid down Unemployment Trust Fund Debt

Restored the long-term solvency of the unemployment trust fund paid entirely by Michigan job providers and eliminated the more than $3 billion worth of debt owed for unemployment benefits paid out during Michigan's decade long recession.

Reformed Workers' Compensation

Modernized a 100 year old law to update for current medical technology and positioned our state to be more competitive to relocate new jobs to Michigan.

Repealed Job Killing Regulations

Halted the expansion of new state-specific ergonomic regulations above and beyond what the federal government mandates. That burden would have imposed an estimated $500 million hidden tax on Michigan job providers. This would disproportionately impact medium-size and small businesses, the engines which drive the Michigan economy forward.

Slashed Bureaucratic Red Tape

Passed a multi-bill package aimed at requiring regulators to adopt common sense tests on any proposed rules and to speed up the permitting process. These reasonable changes will help private business expansion and job growth.

Boosted Jobs in Michigan's Tourism Industry

Approved $25 million funding for the Pure Michigan advertising campaign that has helped support Michigan's tourism industry through the recession. A study found that the nationwide Pure Michigan campaign generated an additional 680,000 new trips to our state in 2009 from outside the Great Lakes region.

STRENGTHEN EDUCATION

Reformed Teacher Tenure

Passed common sense reforms to ensure that every school tax dollar spent goes to putting the best-rated teachers in the classroom. Teachers given three straight ineffective ratings on their annual performance evaluations will be removed and any layoffs in the future will be based on competency in the classroom, not seniority.

Expanded Educational Opportunity for our Children

Facilitate dual enrollment in community colleges, expanded cyber-schools, and expanded educational opportunity for students regardless of where they receive their education to promote an educated workforce for our state.

Eliminated the Cap on Charter Schools

Expanded innovation and choice in public school education by removing arbitrary barriers to education options for students and parents.

Pledge of Allegiance

Afford every Michigan student the opportunity to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the school day to promote good citizenship.

Banned School Bullying

Protected all children in school from bullying.

PROTECT RIGHTS OF CITIZENS

Senior Protection Package

Strengthens penalties for crimes committed against seniors and protects seniors' assets by requiring financial institutions to detect and report suspected financial exploitation.

State Ban on Partial Birth Abortion

This was necessary in case the Obama Administration or future presidents choose not to enforce the current federal ban on this heinous procedure.

Cracked Down on Mortgage Fraud

Toughened penalties for forging and falsely notarizing real estate documents to give prosecutors the tools to fight the crime of mortgage fraud and restore financial integrity to the housing market.

Foreclosure Prevention Program

Protect the rights of citizens by helping to keep families in their homes. Cracks down on scam artists who prey on vulnerable homeowners. Maintains the 90 day window to assist owners and lenders to find a solution.

Vulnerable Household Warmth Fund

Provides needed relief to low-income families after the courts struck down a popular home heating assistance program. Reduces by 50% the cost to rate payers.

CONTINUE GOVERNMENT REFORMS

Passed a Reform Budget in Record Time

The Senate passed a reform-minded budget that cut spending. It also required accountability and reforms to be put in place by local governments and school districts. This ensures that dollars are focused on the classroom and public safety not administrative costs.

Stopped using one-time fixes and gimmicks to balance the budget. A structurally sound budget that puts the state on solid financial footing was passed at the earliest date in three decades. This provides local governments and schools with plenty of advance notice to plan and prepare for next year.

Capped Welfare Benefits

Restored original intent of program to be temporary assistance on the road to self-sufficiency. Raised cap on how much a beneficiary can earn in a job and still qualify for assistance to encourage a speedy transition to self-reliance. Cracked down on cheats who used cash assistance to fund gambling habits playing the lottery or casinos.

Improved Government

Public Safety Union Contract Negotiations - Made long-needed changes to Public Act 312 by requiring that an arbitrator strongly consider a local government's ability to pay when setting wages and benefits for public safety officers. Speeds up the arbitration process and expands PA 312 rights to police and fire fighters who work for non-traditional governmental units.

Passed Emergency Managers Reform

Provided more tools to emergency managers to bring financially distressed local units of government out of deficit. Established a thorough review process for early detection and early intervention before financial emergencies can happen.

State Employee Retirement Reform

Ends the practice of treating the health care and benefit system like a credit card making hefty charges but only paying the minimum balance. Continues on a path to save $6 billion in retiree health care costs. In 26 years, this reform will reduce the state's liability for retiree healthcare from $1.2 billion to less than $150 million annually.

Reined in Out of-Control Public Sector Benefits

Required public employees of all levels of government (including state lawmakers) to pay a modest 20% share of the cost of their healthcare benefits (or a fixed limit) to bring them in line with the rate private sector workers are contributing.

Promoted Fair and Open Competition in Government Construction

Guaranteed equal opportunity for every qualified contractor to bid on public construction projects. Government can no longer discriminate between union and non-union bidders in awarding government contracts.

Reformed Item Pricing Law

Reformed the strictest item pricing law in the nation to allow new time-saving technologies for job providers and help lower costs for consumers.

November School Elections

Saved schools millions of dollars by requiring the common sense idea that school elections should take place on regular November ballots in even years when voters are accustomed to voting and local resources are already dedicated to processing elections.

Promoted Outdoor Recreation

Approved expenditures from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund which is paid for by the sale of oil and gas leases on state land. These funds went to build parks, playgrounds and maintain Michigan's outdoor hiking, biking and snowmobiling trails; improving Michigan's quality of life.

Farmers Environmental Assurance Program

Provides legal protection for farmers who implement sound environmental stewardship practices on their land. Adopted into state law a voluntary program that is pro-farmer, pro-environment and pro-jobs.