Is all quiet on the Saginaw Chamber front?

​While you’re busy running your organizations, we are actively working on and supporting projects that will dramatically improve the Saginaw County Community.

Unlike the major news outlets, you may not get “breaking news” all the time from us.  But know that we are working behind the scenes on some pretty important things for our community!
​
We have new faces on the local, state and federal levels of government and have already met with many of them.  We build relationships and actively educate our elected officials on community priorities.  

Midterm elections are here! And then they’re over.  Many of us welcome the end of the never-ceasing negative ads, and it seems that the message is always that “this is the most important election ever!”
​
The statement might be overused, but Elections ARE important.  They are the chance for you to choose how you want to see government run; what policies are important to you and your family and who you think will best represent those values.

The Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce is committed to prioritizing legislative advocacy to influence and shape public policy helping to create a healthy, business-friendly community, region, and state. Part of that advocacy includes making endorsements for business-friendly candidates and ballot proposals. It is something the Chamber takes very seriously, so a careful vetting process helps ensure due diligence on the part of the Chamber Board of Directors.
 
The Process
As a policy, the Chamber does not endorse candidates in primaries believing that primaries are a function of the parties to select their own candidates. The only exception to this policy is if the primary will determine the winner of the position. In that case, the Chamber will consider candidates who request endorsement and have them follow the standard vetting process used for general election candidates.

On May 26, 2022, The Board of Directors of the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce voted to support the Term Limits for State Legislators and Financial Disclosure Ballot Proposal.
 
This will shorten the total length of time that a State Legislator can serve; it will now be 12 years total, down from the current 14 year total; however, it will allow all 12 years to be served in one chamber of the legislature or the other.  We believe that this will lend more stability to both chambers in terms of experience.
 
We are also supportive of the financial disclosure aspect of the proposal.  Michigan has been the state with the least amount of transparency in financial disclosure and, if passed, will give the public a better level of open reporting on where money comes from.

The men and women of Michigan are hardworking Americans who are trying to make smart financial decisions for their families, their businesses and their futures. They are careful with their money, and expect the government to be as well. That is why a new proposal in Congress to expand the Internal Revenue Service and give them even more control over your tax return is very troubling.

We all know that the IRS’s job is to collect taxes that are owed each year. When tax time comes around, many Michigan residents pour over the numbers or enlist the help of a local CPA or trained tax professional to make sure that they get things right.
​
But now, some members of Congress are pushing a proposal that would give the IRS unprecedented authority to not only collect your taxes, but generate your tax return as well.

If you missed the news, two major expansions for Michigan companies announced their site locations.  Michigan lost.

The first expansion involved Michigan losing out on Ford’s $11.4 billion Electric Vehicle investment as well as the creation of 11,000 jobs.  It went to two states: Tennessee and Kentucky. 

If the sting of that loss wasn’t enough to open our eyes to the need for a comprehensive economic development strategy, we learned that another deal for expansion by Leprino Foods of Remus; the largest manufacturer of mozzarella cheese is going to Lubbock, Texas and it meant losing out on $870 million in investment and 600 jobs. The company had ample room to put the expansion in Michigan, but the state’s economic development tools didn’t even come close to competing.

The Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce and Saginaw Future Inc., have a long history of working together, supporting each other’s efforts to help make Saginaw County and this Great Lakes Bay Region economically healthy.

Over the past 19 months, the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with Saginaw Future Inc., to assist in getting valuable information and resources to our business community to help them through the pandemic shutdown of 2020 and early 2021.
​
During that time, we assisted with distribution of grants through the federal and state government, as well as generous contributions from Dow and Consumers Energy.

And now the work continues with the recent announcement of federal dollars to come to the City and County of Saginaw through the American Rescue Plan.

Short-term rentals are a recent phenomenon across Michigan and serve a purpose for travelers and tourism.  And while they can fill a gap in communities where there aren’t enough hotel rooms, not every community should allow short-term rentals.
 
Recently, in Saginaw, a homeowner, claiming to be using her property as a short-term rental, allowed a house party.  Reports that nearly 100 people were inside, with another 100 outside.  Shots rang out injuring four and murdering one 29-year old.

The Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce joined a coalition of 113 chambers of commerce in 46 states to deliver a letter to U.S. House and Senate leadership asking that $18 billion be allocated within the forthcoming infrastructure recovery bills specifically to support creative economic recovery. The businesses represented by these chambers collectively serve over 33 million Americans. 

Spearheaded by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, and Americans for the Arts, the letter asserts that dedicated recovery funds for the creative economy are essential to getting local small businesses and economies back on their feet. The letter was built on two previous letters of support (May 2020, August 2020) for relief and recovery efforts to help the arts, culture, and the creative sector.