Latest news with #Wegela
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers resurrect legislation to end political spending from utilities and government contractors
Taking Back Our Power coalition press conference on April 23, 2025 | Submitted photo A group of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle joined with members of the Taking Back Our Power Coalition Wednesday to reintroduce a package of bills looking to bar energy companies and companies seeking government contracts from donating to political campaigns. Arguing that political spending has allowed companies like DTE Energy, Consumers Energy and Blue Cross Blue Shield to escape accountability through political influence, State Reps. Donovan McKinney (D-Detroit) James DeSana (R-Carleton), Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor) and Dylan Wegela (D-Garden City) said people deserve to have their voices heard. 'It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat, it doesn't matter if you're a Republican, doesn't matter where you live in our state in this country, doesn't matter how you worship or who you love. People want corporate influence out of politics, and so this is a opportunity to bridge that gap, bring everybody together,' McKinney said. According to a survey from Emma White Research LLC., commissioned by the Taking Back Our Power coalition, 81% of Michiganders support limiting corporations seeking government contracts and regulated monopolies like Michigan's major energy providers from making political contributions. During the previous legislative cycle, at least 119 of the 148 members of the Michigan Legislature accepted political spending from energy utilities including Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, according to an Oct. 27, 2023 report from the Energy and Policy Institute, an energy industry watchdog. Wegela criticized Consumers and DTE alongside health insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield for their campaign contributions, accusing the companies of bypassing contribution limits by donating through 'dark money' spending where the donor is not disclosed. Among those donations was a $100,000 contribution from an account led by DTE Energy executives to an account linked to former Michigan Speaker of the House Joe Tate (D-Detroit) in 2023, the Detroit News reported. 'Michiganders are paying the highest rates for energy in the region when we deal with the worst reliability and instead of investing in the grid, corporations are making record corporate profits and spending thousands on campaign donations and lobbying efforts,' Wegela said. DeSana noted his support for free market policies before stating the perils of massive corporate and special industry spending in politics are 'readily apparent.' 'I believe that only citizens should fund our elections, and my support for this package of bills is an outgrowth of that belief,' he said. Clean Water Action is one of the member groups of the Taking Back Our Power Coalition. Mid-Michigan Campaign Organizer Nichole Keway Biber said corporate funding for campaigns is buying more than influence. 'They're buying outcomes,' she said. 'When corporations fund campaigns, we are stuck with policies that leave out the rights and needs of working families,' Keway Biber said. Michigan's energy companies have faced strong scrutiny in recent years as customers face frequent and often lengthy outages while energy rates continue to climb. According to the Citizens Utility Board of Michigan, the state ranked as the 9th worst in the nation for reliability, as residents pay the 15th highest energy bills in the U.S. Under the newly reintroduced bills, utility companies and their affiliates in the state would be barred from providing political contributions to politicians and engaging in campaign activities. Government contractors with $250,000 or more in aggregated contracts would also be prohibited from making political contributions for 18 months before seeking or entering the contract, during the contract's term, and 18 months after the contract is terminated. While the previous bill package failed to secure a committee hearing, DeSana told reporters at the announcement that there is an openness to these ideas within the Republican-led House of Representatives, noting that they were able to secure the Republican Conference room for the announcement. 'I've had conversations with colleagues who are, they can get 99% of the way there, and I think we're just going to keep working on that other 1%,' DeSana said. Wegela further noted that several of the package's supporters were in conversation with members of the Democratic-led Michigan Senate looking to have them introduce similar if not identical legislation in the upper chamber. Katie Carey, Consumers Energy's director of media relations, said the company is committed to compliance and transparency, including through its participation in the legislative and political process. 'Contributions to elected officials can come from one of two places — either shareholder profits, or voluntary contributions made by our employees to the Employees for Better Government (EBG) PAC — and never customer bills,' Carey wrote in an email. Participation in the employee PAC and all contributions are publicly disclosed on the Secretary of State's website, Carey said. Additionally, the corporation does not contribute to federal Super PACs, nor does it directly contribute or make independent expenditures to advocate for the election or defeat of a federal, state or local candidate, per the company's policy. Jill Wilmot, director of corporate communications for DTE similarly emphasized the company's compliance with laws governing corporate donations and political contributions. 'In compliance with our [Integrated Resource Plan] settlement, we have voluntarily expanded our disclosures to increase transparency for all stakeholders. These disclosures showcase DTE's commitment to our customers and communities we serve, helping us meet our aspiration of being best in the world and best for the world. The political contributions the company makes are supported by the DTE voluntary employee PAC or DTE shareholders — not from customer revenue,' Wilmot said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Michigan House passes police funding legislation targeting high-crime areas
The Michigan House of Representatives passed legislation April 22 to increase police funding that gives priority to places dealing with highest number of violent crimes in the state. House Bills 4260 and 4261 would dedicate $115 million annually in sales tax revenue for a new Public Safety and Violence Prevention Fund. Lawmakers took up legislation in the previous legislative session, but the bills never landed on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's desk. The proposal would initially distribute $72 million to local police departments, with money distributed proportionally based on a city or township's violent crime rate. The fund would also dedicate $1.5 million for a state grant program for community violence intervention initiatives, which seek to reduce violent crime through local outreach. Another $1.5 million would go to the state's fund for crime victims. Remaining dollars in the fund would go to county sheriffs. "Public safety is the most fundamental promise any government can make to its people," said bill sponsor state Rep. Mike Harris, R-Waterford, in a speech. His Democratic partner on the legislation — state Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn — called the policy proposal a "national model." "Now this fund will trust those closest to the pain," Farhat said in a speech. He also said it will incentivize law enforcement to spend the money effectively with modest funding cuts for communities that don't see a decrease in violent crime after receiving funding. "We want programs that work," Farhat said. The legislation passed 104-4 in the state House. Republican state Rep. Steve Carra of Three Rivers and Democratic state Reps. Carrie Rheingans of Ann Arbor, Phil Skaggs of East Grand Rapids and Dylan Wegela of Garden City voted against it. Wegela asked lawmakers to think of the opportunity cost associated with the bills. "What else could we fund with $115 million?" he said. He pointed out that some studies have shown no correlation between police spending and a reduction in crime rates. "We owe it to our communities to explore the crime reduction that comes from ending poverty, reforming criminal justice and reinventing our public safety institutions," Wegela said. Under the legislation, law enforcement would have wide discretion over how to spend the money. They could use it to recruit and retain officers and buy new patrol cars, for instance. But police departments could not use the money to obtain large vehicles designed for tactical use, facial recognition technology or chemical weapons. The legislation is a top priority for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who joined House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, for an April 7 news conference at the Detroit Police Headquarters to promote the bills. Michigan Politics: Haley Stevens jumps into Senate race, giving Democrats a presumptive early favorite Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel Jr. blasted Duggan in a statement the next day for standing with Hall — a supporter of President Donald Trump — as the Detroit mayor and longtime Democrat campaigns as an independent candidate for governor. Duggan's campaign shot back. "Curtis Hertel has made his stance clear: hating Republicans is more important than putting cops on the streets," Duggan's son and campaign manager Ed Duggan wrote in an April 9 email. The police funding bills next head to the Michigan Senate for consideration. Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@ or 313-296-5743. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan House passes police funding legislation
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Far-right member, Democratic socialist come together to pass bills in Michigan House
Lawmakers in the Michigan House passed a pair of bills Tuesday prohibiting themselves from entering into nondisclosure agreements, a practice that has come under scrutiny following lawmakers agreeing to keep secret details of large economic development projects that could receive state funding. House Bill 4052 introduced by Republican state Rep. Steve Carra of Three Rivers would prohibit members of the Michigan Legislature and their legislative staff from entering into a nondisclosure agreement "regarding any work done in that member's legislative capacity." It passed 80-28 in the Michigan House with bipartisan support. House Bill 4053 introduced by Democratic state Rep. Dylan Wegela of Garden City defines a nondisclosure agreement as one prohibiting the public release or discussion of the contract's terms. Wegela's bill passed 91-17. "This legislation is simple," said Carra in a speech on the House floor Wednesday. Lawmakers have a duty, he said, to be transparent when weighing how to spend taxpayers' money. Carra — part of the far-right House Freedom Caucus — and Wegela — a Democratic socialist — have both blasted corporate subsidies championed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to lure companies to Michigan. State lawmakers and economic development officials have approved state funding to prepare large manufacturing sites and awarded grants to companies that create jobs in the state. In recent years, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation has shepherded deals with Ford and other companies to locate electric vehicle battery plant projects in Michigan. Carra and Wegela call the funding a corporate handout, and they teamed up on the nondisclosure legislation as a way to change the process the state uses to land deals with companies eyeing Michigan to locate or expand. "The current practice is that in order to learn about the full scope of a project legislators need to sign NDAs and then doing so traps legislators in a code of silence around said projects," Wegela said in a floor speech Wednesday. Michigan Policy: A guide to Michigan's new paid sick leave law Michigan Economic Development Corporation spokesperson Otie McKinley said the agency finds that those looking to invest in Michigan often require nondisclosure agreements to share financial and proprietary information. For years, lawmakers have called for greater transparency in the process used by Whitmer's administration for negotiating massive taxpayer-funded economic development deals, saying that by the time the projects come to them for a vote, they're little more than a rubber stamp. The bipartisan coalition that once supported Whitmer's economic development approach has fractured but competing plans for overhauling the current system failed to cross the finish line in the last legislative session. Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@ or 313-296-5743. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan bills would ban nondisclosure agreements in Lansing
