Tuesday, May 14, 2019
May is set to be a significant month in shaping public policies that affect all of Michigan:
1. The House and Senate are both moving auto no-fault insurance reform bills aimed at reducing costs for all motorists.
2. The Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference, set for May 17 in Lansing, brings together the State Budget Office and the lawmakers in charge of shaping the budget to agree on how much revenue is available to spend for the upcoming Fiscal Year.
3. The annual Mackinac Policy Conference convenes many influencers and decision-makers to identify major challenges for Michigan and how we can overcome them. Since a roads funding solution hasn’t been adopted yet, I expect there will be a great deal of discussion about the best way to fix them. We believe that’s raising enough new revenue to fix the roads sustainably without adversely impacting education and other important priorities. Recent studies show that about $2 billion per year will be needed just to fix the roads we have.
4. Also at Mackinac, expect education to be widely discussed. Michigan continues to lag the nation in student achievement. To find solutions, we launched a partnership last summer, bringing together business and education to sit at one large table. During this year’s policy conference, the Launch Michigan co-chairs will discuss the work we’ve engaged in during the past year, and how we plan to move forward. If you’re not attending the conference, I hope you’ll watch the livestream at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 30th. You can also visit Launch Michigan’s website to learn what we’re working on and how you can help boost education excellence for every school and every student in our state.
5. Speaking of conferences, we just opened registration for our 8th annual CEO Summit, to be held Tuesday, November 5 at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit. We’re changing things up a bit this year and will have some insight from both private and public sector leaders about what’s around the corner and how we can prepare. This event sells out every year, so reserve your spot ASAP.