Highlights from Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s second annual State of the State address:
ROADS
She announced a plan to borrow $3.5 billion to rebuild state roads and bridges over five years. The money will be used for construction projects on I-, U.S.- and M-numbered routes. It is the Democrat’s Plan B after the Republican-led Legislature last year rejected her proposed 45-cents-a-gallon fuel tax hike, which would have permanently raised more revenue for roads.
THIRD-GRADE READING
She announced a partnership with five foundations to help families understand and navigate what she called a “punitive” reading law that will start impacting third-graders this spring. The number of kids who are forced to repeat third grade - which is expected to rise due to the state requirement - will depend on whether they get an exemption. Superintendents also can still promote children to fourth grade if they determine it is in their “best interests.”
CHILD CARE
She proposed making more low-income workers eligible for state financial assistance to pay for child care, by raising the income limit to 150% of the federal poverty level for a family of four - from $34,060 to $39,300. She also backed additional funding to expand the state’s preschool program for disadvantaged children.
MATERNAL AND INFANT MORTALITY
She said black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. She proposed expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage for low-income mothers to a full year after giving birth and to move a woman’s first visit to within three weeks of the birth, with a comprehensive visit within 12 weeks. Other facets included tasking Michigan State University and the Detroit Medical Center with leading an effort to require that future doctors and nurses are trained on implicit bias - the deeply ingrained stereotypes that everyone has.
TUITION ASSISTANCE
She renewed her call for the Legislature to approve her proposed Reconnect program to provide tuition-free community college or technical training for an estimated 51,000 nontraditional students age 25 and older without an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
HEALTH CARE
She backed putting parts of the Obama-era federal health care law into state law in case the Affordable Care Act is invalidated by the courts or repealed by Congress and the president. They include provisions that prohibit insurers from denying people due to a preexisting condition and charging sick people more than healthy customers. Michigan insurers also would have to continue covering “essential benefits,” which are considered especially important for women since birth control and other routine services are now covered as preventive care, at no charge.
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
She said she will create a prescription drug advisory task force to develop policies to lower costs and ensure more transparency in how drugs are priced.
MILLIKEN
She said the state will honor the memory of former Gov. William Milliken, who died at age 97 in October, by breaking ground on a visitors center at the Arch Rock geologic formation on Mackinac Island.
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Source: Gov. Whitmer’s office
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