Legislative Affairs

Education
·Modify state rules and regulations to reduce barriers and create incentives that encourage the sharing of services and consolidation of public schools,
·Support competitive bidding for public school employee’s health care insurance premiums,
·Move public school employees out of a defined benefit to a defined contribution style retirement plan,
·Promote and advocate for the Consensus Principles for Education and Workforce Development^.

Why?
Our state and nation’s future economic demands a generation of graduates with solid academic knowledge, world-class technical skills, conscientious work habits, and eager, creative analytical minds. High standards and opportunities to achieve must be available to all students, and must reach into every community. The WMCC will monitor and work to advance legislation in alignment with the joint education priorities.

Environment
·Support air quality attainment status for West Michigan and non-attainment re-designation,
·Advocate for fair regulations / permit requirements on industry**,
·Support efforts to prevent invasive species in our Great Lakes,
·Continue to support the use of Brownfield incentives to help encourage redevelopment of contaminated properties,
·Support efforts to encourage or increase recycling opportunities in Michigan.
·Advocate for reliable and affordable energy, including that from traditional sources and support the research, development and implementation of alternative energy, energy efficiency, energy conservation and clean energy technologies.

Why?
Job providers need certainty in the regulatory process to maximize competitiveness. New environmental regulations must be based on the best available science. Rules and regulations must go through a formal process, requiring an opportunity for input from a broad range of stakeholders. The WMCC will monitor and work to advance legislation in alignment with the joint environmental priorities.

Health Care
·Promote and advocate for the Consensus Principles for Health Care Delivery and Consensus Principles for Behavioral Health Delivery**^.
·Limit cost-shifting by government sponsored programs to the private sector.

Why?
True health care cost containment cannot be achieved if the focus is on price controls and government interference in employers’ health care decisions. Legislators should focus their time and energy on implementing market-friendly and consumer-driven reforms that eliminate regulations that increase business costs, cost employees more money, and adds to the number of uninsured individuals statewide. The WMCC will monitor and work to advance legislation in alignment with the joint healthcare priorities.

Public Policy
·Promote policies that lead to economic growth in West Michigan,
·Continue to advocate for infrastructure funding to meet the demands of the growing West Michigan region**,
·Encourage continued viability of downtowns and not desert existing infrastructure,
·Advocate for reforming term limits in Michigan,
·Modify state rules and regulations to reduce barriers and create incentives that encourage the sharing of services and cooperation between of local governments,

Why?
The public policy priorities consist of general priorities that do not find any specific joint topic area, but rather stand alone as principles for the WMCC to monitor and the advancement of legislation to improve the quality of life in West Michigan.

Taxes
·Support a repeal of the Michigan Business Tax (MBT) surcharge,
·Support the creation of a business tax structure that is competitive and broad based.

Why?
Michigan’s new business tax must be more competitive in order to encourage business investment, job retention, and job creation in the state of Michigan. The WMCC will monitor and work to advance legislation that eliminates the burden on West Michigan job providers created by the current MBT structure.

^Denotes available position paper ** Denotes alignment with RPC Directives