Dear Friends,

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of my e-newsletter!

In keeping with our commitment to better government, the Michigan House continues work to pass its budget well before the October 1st deadline, allowing schools and municipalities ample time to prepare their own budgets.

Our state continues to move forward on behalf of hard-working taxpayers. As a result of living within our means last year, we are already seeing growth and experiencing a modest surplus.

This year's budget prioritizes funding education, public safety and investments to create long-term savings for the state. At the same time, we are supporting greater government efficiency with more than $200 million in state department reductions. More details and figures can be found in this newsletter.

As always, I hope you will find this email update useful and informative. Please contact me if you ever have any questions or concerns.

Dale W. Zorn
State Representative
District 56

Read Rep. Dale Zorn's May Legislative Update here.

The Monroe County Republican Party meets the first Monday of every month at 7pm at the Monroe County Courthouse. The public is welcome.

Michigan motorists may soon have a unique opportunity to help protect the gift of life if legislation recently approved by the Senate Transportation Committee becomes law.

Senate Bill 600 would create a Choose Life specialty license plate. Sales of the plate would help support the pregnancy resource centers that help pregnant women and their babies. These centers not only provide clothing, diapers, cribs, car seats and other items, but also teach parenting skills and encourage dads to be involved in the lives of their children. Funding would also provide opportunities to promote adoption and education about abortion alternatives.

Twenty-six states have authorized Choose Life license plates, generating more than $14 million for life-promoting activities.

The bill now goes before the full Senate for consideration.

I was pleased to support recent legislation that will protect our natural resources and promote job creation at the same time.

Senate Bills 528-533 would reform the state's regulatory process in dealing with leaking underground storage tanks. The bills would eliminate unnecessary red tape to expedite the cleanup of these polluted sites.

Michigan lags far behind other states in cleaning up contaminated land. Over the years, constant rule changes have delayed rehabilitation efforts and sidelined redevelopment projects.

The common sense reform would require the Department of Environmental Quality to set a site-specific, risk-based strategy to more quickly and effectively clean up these sites. In this way, limited resources can be better spent on contaminated sites that need more attention, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.

Once polluted sites are cleaned up, they can be redeveloped to create jobs.

The legislation has been sent to the House for consideration.

Michigan is holding its own as more people relocate here for jobs! That's the good news according to a recent study by Atlas Van Lines.

As most of the Midwest continued to lose residents last year, the moving company identified Michigan as one of only three "balanced" states in the region - that is, states where inbound and outbound moves each represented 55 percent or less of the total.

As you might imagine, Michigan spent the previous six years as an "outbound" state.

I am thrilled with this welcome news. It's one more sign that our work is helping put Michigan back on track.