Advocacy News – May 5, 2023
MI Chamber members gathered Wednesday for the organization’s annual Chamber Day event. One top highlight was a conversation with the state’s top four legislators – aka the “Quadrant” of Senate Majority Leader Winne Brinks, Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt, House Speaker Joe Tate, and Republican House Leader Matt Hall – in their first panel appearance all together since taking office in January.
The sold-out day was held in the Capitol’s newest addition, Heritage Hall, also included lunch with Michigan lawmakers from both chambers as well as sessions on how to make your voice heard and insider assessments of the policy and political landscape with the recent sea change in Lansing and 2024 election cycle outlook.
Here’s the key takeaways from the day:
- Reach out and believe that one person can make a difference in advocacy. Your voice and experiences are essential to your senator or representative. It is their job to accurately represent their districts. Don’t assume your legislator knows everything or won’t pay attention. It’s your job to inform your legislators of the impact of a proposed policy change and how it could affect your business.
- Every issue is a new opportunity to work together. Michigan is a purple state, and we can and must find opportunities for both sides of the aisle to work together. There are many policy issues in Michigan that we can agree on, whether that’s clean water and a quality education system for our children or a strong, competitive economic climate that works for businesses, communities and Michiganders alike. Just because one issue didn’t work out doesn’t mean other efforts are futile. Find the next issue and the common ground and work from there. Voices are stronger in numbers, so use your network and the power of a collective voice to amplify issue areas.
- “Kitchen Table Issues” win elections. Just like in the 2022 election where social issues like reproductive freedom brought a mass of voters to the polls, there is a continuing reality in what are called “kitchen table issues” — or issues that are top of mind and the biggest concern to the average person that might be discussed by the family around the kitchen table — will continue to draw voters to the polls. Don’t lose sight of these issues.
- Communication is key for our state leaders to foster an environment of unison. The state of Michigan is very diverse, and leaders of the MI House and Senate noted that they will work together to not allow the extremist opinions of their respective caucuses decide public policy. It is important to our legislative leaders to identify common values and interests, debate those details and then move forward together for the people of Michigan.
Last Word Remarks
Closing remarks given by Kurt Wilder, shareholder at Butzel and 2023 MI Chamber chairman of the Board of Directors, focused on pragmatic problem solving and how bipartisanship matters when working to make a meaningful difference. He also stressed that we must engage and not pull back as sharing the perspective of the business community with our policymakers has never been more important.
A special thanks again to our generous sponsors – CVS Health, Verizon, AES, BlueTriton Brands and Walmart – for their support, as well as our panelists and moderators for sharing their time and talents.
For questions about Chamber Day, contact Becky Burtka at bburtka@michamber.com.