State Representative Matt Hall

As the new bipartisan state budget heads to the governor’s desk we are learning more about how available funds are being allocated across the state and locally.

Rep. Matt Hall says law would build voter confidence in fair elections

A liberal political activist group is going after Marshall Republican State Representative Matt Hall. It’s also targeting Holland area Republican Jim Lilly.

The Michigan State House Oversight Committee is opening a wide-ranging investigation into the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. Committee Chair Steve Johnson from Wayland says it’s already underway and will broaden as the legislature returns to Lansing from its summer break. Quoting Johnson, "The Unemployment Agency has been a complete mess."

Maybe the most questionable of the Secretary of State’s proposals is the idea to require absentee ballot applications to be mailed to registered voters every federal election cycle.

Republican Speaker of the House-elect Jason Wentworth immediately took the Governor to task. Wentworth says, “Just days after Christmas and two days before many extended benefits expire, the governor has ended unemployment support for far too many working families.

Since the virus outbreak began in March, the state reports about $22 billion in unemployment benefits have been paid to more than 2.1 million workers. Sounds awesome. But there is another side to the story.

The lawmakers say the agency responsible for managing unemployment benefits assistance is running into a big hole with no vision to work out of it.

Hall says the idea is to prevent businesses from being forced to pay higher taxes after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used Executive Orders powers to close them.

Personally sensitive information about an unknown number of Michigan residents is now in the hands of a Democratically connected political strategy organization. No one knows how it has or will be used. Yet.