The following column was published by the Southgate News-Herald on Friday, January 17

Two years ago when I began representing people in Monroe and Wayne counties in the Legislature, I promised to put their priorities first and be their voice.

I felt strongly that elected leaders in Lansing had gotten away from that. I have consistently advocated for policies and approaches that lower cost-of-living burdens for workers and families, protect children, provide resources to fix local roads from driveway to highway, and make government answer to the people.

But instead of addressing pressing priorities like these during the final few weeks of the legislative term known as “lame duck,” the majority party in the Legislature decided to focus on its own set of priorities and cater to the extremes.

We had an opportunity to work in a bipartisan way with bipartisan bills to help thousands of service industry workers keep their jobs and keep small businesses from closing their doors for good, but no action was taken to get something to the governor’s desk.

I have heard concerns from many small business owners and their workers about a Michigan Supreme Court ruling from last summer that works to eliminate the tip credit system and puts other unrealistic mandates on job providers. They have spoken to legislators on both sides of the aisle about the damage this will do and have rallied at the state Capitol to make their voices heard.

Families Downriver depend on tips they get within these jobs. I raised my kids on the tips I made at my local Coney island when I was in nursing school. With this experience in mind, I’ve been stunned that some in Lansing have pretended this isn’t a major problem and have yet to pursue solutions when so many livelihoods are at risk if the court’s decision becomes effective in February.

A survey of restaurant owners that was conducted in response to the court’s decision found that two-thirds of restaurant operators in Michigan expect layoffs, 94% say they’d have to raise menu prices on people who go out to support local businesses in their community, and one in five full-service restaurants are projected to close permanently. These are staggering numbers.

Instead of working to correct this issue and not send our local economies into a tailspin, bills that went through committees and reached the House floor for potential votes during lame duck included letting violent criminals out of jail early, giving driver’s licenses to individuals who are in our country illegally, changing how our state awards its electoral votes, and other extreme proposals that voters soundly rejected last month. These were ridiculous party agenda items. They were not people of Michigan items.

There was also no action on a recently proposed local road funding plan that would provide an additional $3 billion each year to help local road agencies fix infrastructure without raising taxes or raiding the School Aid Fund.

With needs from constituents being ignored, I joined my House Republican colleagues in refusing to vote on any more legislation during lame duck. Even while being in majority, Democrats could not maintain a quorum in the House and several of their agenda items ultimately did not reach the governor’s desk. The unpopularity of many of their proposals was on full display.

Session was held just one time in the people’s House between June and November. Unfortunately, those in majority were more concerned about staying there than using that time to help protect people’s jobs and address crumbling local roads. With a new term beginning, elected leaders need to put people first. I’ll continue standing up for our workers, families, and communities.