When I talk with my constituents, one of the most pressing issues on their minds is Michigan’s high unemployment rate. With the closing of auto manufacturing plants, suppliers, and dealerships, many workers are finding themselves without the jobs they had planned to work until retirement. Michigan workers need all the help they can get, and at a time when help is scarce, we should take advantage of every possible opportunity to assist these workers.

The Michigan House of Representatives has approved a plan to modernize our unemployment system with $138.9 million in federal stimulus funds for unemployed workers enrolled in a state-approved training program (I introduced the Senate version of this), and part-time workers who have lost their jobs. However, the Republican-controlled State Senate has yet to allow a vote to secure the funding, and without fast action, Michigan risks losing the money. While stimulus dollars are only a temporary solution, they will help our workers support themselves while looking for full time work or participating in training programs for high-demand fields such as technology, alternative energy, and health care.

Helping Michigan families survive this economic downturn has been my focus in the state senate, and I’ve fought for funding for the No Worker Left Behind program as well as the Hire Michigan First package of bills that recently passed. I also recently voted to pass legislation that would give additional protection to homeowners facing foreclosure. Here we have another opportunity to help families and boost the economy, and my colleagues across the aisle are sitting idly by.

We need your help to make sure that the Senate Majority follows the House’s lead and makes the passage of this important legislation to help Michigan workers a priority. My fellow Senate Democrats and I are requesting Michigan residents to take action and log onto the new “Help MI Workers” Web site at http://www.senate.michigan.gov/dem/helpmiworkers/. You can sign an online petition encouraging the Senate Republicans to pass this legislation, providing a lifeline to Michigan citizens struggling from the devastation of unemployment. You can also find information to contact them directly. Michigan’s unemployed need your help––log on to Help MI Workers and stand up for our state’s struggling workforce today.

Last year, the Michigan Legislature approved the country’s most aggressive incentive package for the film and digital media industries with overwhelming support. Now these incentives are under fire from some who say they are “too successful.” Those arguments are shortsighted. Instead of capping these incentives I believe that we should let them continue working and bringing new jobs and industries to Michigan.

Michigan is reaping benefits from these new film incentives.  We’ve seen 136 applications for productions, 71 were approved and 35 were completed by the end of 2008. All of that happened in just the first year of the film incentives.

Just this year we have heard about new movie deals and new studios coming into our state. Southfield-based Parallax Productions signed a deal with New Castle Entertainment to create several movies worth as much as $60 million. In early April a new $146 million dollar studio complex was announced for Allen Park.  Two other studios are slated to open in the next year, and short term training programs are being offered by community colleges and universities.

Yes the state has collected taxes and yes we have paid incentive money back to these productions. This is what film incentive critics focus on: the money the state pays back to productions. What the critics fail to consider is the money that comes into our communities from these same productions. The local trophy shop that provided trophies for a movie about high school students, the hotel rooms and homes that are rented for actors, the locals who are hired for extras, the caterers that provide food, and the list will only grow longer if we just let these film incentives work.  Hollywood is very good at acting quickly, investing heavily, and promoting globally. We are courting this industry to jar our state off of its sole dependence on the auto industry and it is working.

At least one of our neighbors, Ohio, is looking at our film incentives and trying to figure out how they can do better. Ohio is facing a $7.5 billion deficit over the next two fiscal years. And yet they are seriously trying to adopt any incentive package that might compete with ours. Ohio lawmakers understand that film incentives could be a critical investment to diversify their economy.

That is the point of the film incentives and that is what they are doing for Michigan: diversifying our economy and creating new jobs and opportunities. The film industry is animation and special effects studios, digital media, and gaming consoles. These are the jobs of the future that will keep our young people here and draw talented newcomers into Michigan.

Yesterday in the Michigan Senate we celebrated a long-awaited victory for Michigan workers in the passage of a portion of the Hire Michigan First legislative package. In a time of economic downturn, with unemployment rates soaring, giving Michigan workers priority for jobs created with Michigan taxpayer dollars is the right thing to do. It sends the message that we will not let our state fail, and that we have faith in Michigan families to survive this difficult time and come out on top.

Our state has thousands of talented workers who have been displaced due to the loss of manufacturing jobs. We have instituted programs to train these workers for new, in-demand fields such as renewable energy, but these workers cannot succeed if there aren’t jobs available for them when they finish. The same goes for new college graduates, who are ready and willing to work but will leave the state if they can’t find employment.

Democrats recognized the importance of this legislation years ago, and I’ve been working to pass it every chance I get. However, until this week, these bills had not even been given a committee hearing. We have been relentless in our fight for Michigan workers, with several efforts to move these bills, repeated calls for action, and town hall meetings around the state. A few examples of our ongoing activity on behalf of Hire Michigan First include:

We reintroduced the bills in the Senate in February: http://www.senate.mi.gov/dem/pr.php?id=1211.

I spoke on the Senate floor about this issue in early March, around the time the House passed these bills, once again encouraging action to help Michigan workers. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26wlvu05Ono&feature=channel_page.

Senate Democrats fought to bring these bills to the floor again in April: http://www.senate.mi.gov/dem/pr.php?id=1278.

We also started a Cause page on Facebook for Hire Michigan First earlier this year. It has over 1,100 members, and is growing by the day. You can join to show your support here: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/235147/41930933?m=6d54c0aa.

This is just a sampling of the work we’ve done to make sure Michigan workers are given priority for Michigan jobs. And yesterday, we not only stood in support of this legislation to put Michigan workers first. We also fought for fair wages for those workers and sought to close loopholes in the legislation created by Senate Republicans that would make it easier for companies to hire out-of-state workers. You can read our press release on it here: http://www.senate.mi.gov/dem/pr.php?id=1316.

Michigan residents should be able to see their tax dollars working to create jobs with companies that will hire Michigan workers and not outsource jobs to out-of-state or overseas workers. In addition to the jobs created directly by the Hire Michigan First initiative, those put to work will spend their paychecks in local grocers, restaurants, and businesses creating an important multiplier effect for local economies. This has been a long journey, and there are still pieces of the original bill package that have not been passed. I remain as committed to our state’s workforce as ever and will continue to work on this issue until it’s finished. The hardworking people of this state are the backbone of our economy, and now more than ever, we need to stand up for them. Whether its construction projects or manufactured products, it’s simply not good enough to say “Made in Michigan,” but we must demand they’re “Made by Michigan.”

We saw significant progress this afternoon as two Senate committees approved portions of the “Hire Michigan First” package, which passed the House in a bipartisan manner and has had the support of Senate Democrats for years (http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=84608551810&ref=mf). These bills would give incentives to companies to hire Michigan workers, guarantee that state contracts do not go to companies hiring illegal immigrants, and ensure a prevailing wage that will help support Michigan families. The versions considered by committees today did not include all of these measures, and we will keep working to restore them to serve their initial purpose: boosting Michigan’s economy.

This legislation is so important to Senate Democrats that they have tried several times to force a floor vote on the issue, and each time have been blocked Senate Republicans. It was not even given a vote: http://www.senate.michigan.gov/dem/pr.php?id=1278.

You can see Sen. Glenn S. Anderson, one of the sponsors of the Senate version of the package, speaking about it on the floor in this video clip: http://www.senate.michigan.gov/dem/play.php?id=647.

Sen. John J. Gleason also sponsored legislation in the Senate version, and he talks about the importance of hiring Michigan workers here: http://www.senate.michigan.gov/dem/play.php?id=71.

Our work on this legislation is finally paying off, but we need to keep fighting as the package has not fully passed the Senate yet and Senate Republicans are attempting to leave out important elements of the bills. We must make Michigan workers top priority.

If you’d like to join us in fighting for this important economic recovery initiative, please join our Facebook “Hire Michigan First” Cause Page: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/235147/42426775?m=1a240be5.

Senator John J. Gleason invites local residents to a town hall this Monday, May 4, to discuss property taxes in Michigan. Gleason will be joined by a tax expert to discuss growing homeowner concerns over climbing property taxes and decreasing home values.

WHO: Sen. John J. Gleason (D-Flushing) and Samuel Buchalter, Tax Analyst

WHAT: Sen. Gleason will be holding a town hall meeting for the public to discuss the issue of property taxes in Michigan and what can be done to help the ongoing housing crisis.