Legislative Priorities

Since 1863, the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce has been a leading advocate and champion for business by facilitating important connections, advocating business friendly legislation, and supporting leadership and community issues that make Saginaw County an exceptional place to live, work, learn and play. We lead on behalf of business. We communicate, connect, and influence. And we envision creating a thriving economy in Saginaw County and beyond.

Chamber Legislative Priorities 2026-27

Each year, the Saginaw County Chamber staff and governance committee recommend a set of legislative priorities to the full board for approval. This allows staff to quickly respond to requests for support, opposition, or participation in coalitions that fall under the parameters of the approved priorities. In addition, they are also added to a list of regional priorities that allow for collaboration among the four participating regional Chambers of Commerce including the Bay Area, Isabella Area and Saginaw County Chambers as well as the Midland Business Alliance. The collaboration allows for a larger network to provide a voice for our Great Lakes Bay Region.
 
The top four legislative priorities for the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce for 2026-27 include the following:
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• EDUCATION & WORKFORCE READINESS. We engage on issues that contribute positively to Saginaw County, the Great Lakes Bay Region and Michigan and their ability to attract, retain, train, and educate our workforce.
  
  
• ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, & TECHNOLOGY. We support all forms of energy that provide reliability and adequate capacity as well as policies that help Michigan’s economic climate remain competitive. We will continue to support energy policy that provides a high-user rate to keep manufacturing competitive yet fair to energy producers and their customer base.
  
  
• TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE. We will continue our efforts to support infrastructure funding to improve roads, bridges, waterways, transit, and rail in Saginaw County and the Great Lakes Bay Region.
  
  
• BUSINESS GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT & TAX CLIMATE.
  • We advocate for issues that support business growth and development in Saginaw County, the Great Lakes Bay Region and Michigan. While we support competition and the free market, we support limited incentives to attract and retain business and encourage growth. We will advocate for business attraction efforts in the redevelopment of our urban cores.
    
    
  • Michigan job providers contribute substantially to the state and local government, paying just under $14 billion a year in state and local taxes. We support retaining a healthy tax rate on job creators. There simply is no appetite for any increase in taxes on Michigan businesses.

​For questions regarding the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce top four legislative priorities, please contact Chamber President and CEO Eugene Seals, Jr.