Michigan Senate passes bill to make Juneteenth a state holiday
Similar House bill sits in committee
Michigan came a step closer to putting a new holiday on the calendar Wednesday when the Senate approved Senate Bill 50, which would make June 19 a public holiday in honor of Juneteenth.
Juneteenth would join New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day and Christmas as “public holidays” in Michigan.
Read it for yourself: Senate Bill 50 of 2023
Senate Bill 50 was introduced by Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, on Feb. 2. It was referred to the Senate Finance, Insurance and Consumer Protection Committee, which approved it on April 27. Then on May 17 the Senate Committee of the Whole approved the bill, and the full Senate followed suit, by a vote of 37-1.
The only senator to vote against the new holiday was Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake.
“My entire objection to this bill is that everything I’ve been told is that it would be a paid holiday. We don’t need another paid holiday,” Runestad told CapCon. “I’d vote no on Jim Runestad Day too.”
Juneteenth celebrates the June 1865 day when the last group of slaves, who lived in Texas, were notified that slavery was abolished.
Early in Michigan’s history some people did own slaves. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 outlawed slavery in Michigan, a prohibition on slavery was the law decades before statehood in 1837.
There is a House version of the Juneteenth bill, House Bill 4457. The House version was introduced on April 27 by Rep. Helena Scott, D-Detroit and referred to the House Government Operations Committee.
To be enacted into law, either bill would need to be passed in identical forms in the House and Senate, then signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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Traverse City energy customers may be liable for ballooning broadband costs
A federal loan program meant to lower rural utility rates would have the opposite effect on northern Michigan city
Residents of Traverse City may see their energy bills increase to cover the costs of a public broadband system created by the municipality in partnership with its energy provider, Traverse City Light & Power.
The original $4.2 million project, which city leaders touted as lowering internet costs and spreading access, has ballooned to $28.2 million, with subscription rates comparable to what was already available in the private sector.
Michigan Capitol Confidential reported in 2019 that the city-owned energy company was pursuing a loan through the United States Department of Agriculture. The USDA loan program is meant to “help program recipients in rural areas lower their energy bills and fund energy efficiency measures.”
The $14.7 million loan is being used, however, as part of a broadband expansion project, according to The Ticker.
The Ticker’s story notes that the municipal utility’s plans for financial investment in public broadband include “a $14.7 million USDA loan.”
During a recent board meeting, Karla Myers-Beman, chief financial officert of Traverse City Light & Power, said she is confident that more people will sign up than what is currently reported. If there are not enough customers to recoup the money invested, Myers-Beman says, electricity rates would go up.
In other words, the USDA loan, which is designed to lower utility rates for rural residents is not being used for that purpose. In fact, energy rates may increase to cover the broadband project’s financial obligations, which will need to be repaid, regardless of how many residents sign up for the service.
Traverse City Light & Power did not respond to a request for comment.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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