Harvey Hollins, Vice President Government and Community Affairs

Transcription

1 FEDERAL RELATIONS New Michigan Delegation Members District 01 Rep. Dan Benishek (R) [WSU School of Medicine Alum] District 02 Rep Bill Huizenga (R) District 03 Rep Justin Amash (R) District 07 Rep Tim Walberg (R) District 13 Rep Hansen Clarke (D) Congressional Issues The Senate is considering a plan to fund the entire federal government for FY11 (the House voted to freeze all FY11 funding at FY10 levels). A summary of the Senate plan can be found at: Among its recommendations are: increase funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $750 million to a total of $31.8 billion (the President asked for $32.25 billion), including $50 million for the Cures Action Network; extend public access policy on federally funded research findings similar to the one that currently applies to NIH to other agencies funded by the Labor-HHS-Education portion of the bill; provide a total of $77.6 billion for Department of Defense Research, Development, Training; fund the National Science Foundation (NSF) at $7.34 billion in total (the President asked for $7.4 billion), with $5.9 billion for Research and Related Activities, $900 million for Education and Human Resources, and $157 million for Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction; fund the Department of Energy s (DOE s) Office of Science at $4.9 billion (the President asked for $5.1 billion) and DOE s Advanced Research Projects Agency- Energy at $200 million (the President asked for $300 million); fund NASA at $18.9 billion as an agency, with $5 billion slated for science (the President asked for $5.1 billion); and fund both the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts at $170 million each. Congressionally Directed Funding The 111 th Congress wrapped up its work on the FY 2011 budget in December 2010 by passing the authorization for defense and the omnibus for all other budgets. Neither the defense nor the omnibus include congressionally directed funding (earmarks). Although the GOP ban on earmarks is currently one of House Republicans most publicly recognized efforts to restrict federal spending, the GOP changes to House rules did not address the issue.

2 House Republicans say they will implement their ban through leadership decisions, which they can enforce for the entire House now that they control the chamber. Republicans adopted the ban in December as part of their rules package for the full GOP Conference, which also covers limited tax or tariff benefits. This is the second year in a row they have adopted such a prohibition, although since they were in the minority during 2010 they couldn t enforce the ban, even among their own members. As the majority for the 112th Congress, however, leaders can now enforce it simply by refusing to consider any legislation that includes earmarks, and committee chairman know they won t be able to advance legislation that includes earmarks. Earmarks will become an issue for House leaders, however, when appropriations bills reach the stage of having to be reconciled with Senate versions, which may include earmarks. Under the House GOP ban, the definition of earmarks and limited tax or tariff benefits will continue to be those established by Democrats for the last Congress (Rule XXI, clauses 9(e), (f) and (g)). STATE RELATIONS Governor-elect Snyder s Visit to Campus Governor-elect Rick Snyder was the guest speaker at the School of Business Administration s George Husband Distinguished Lecture Series on December 9, Prior to his lecture to students, faculty and staff, the Governor attended a lunch on campus. Capital Outlay Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law House Bill 5858, which includes $383.7 million in funding for building and construction projects at state colleges, universities and community colleges. The legislature and administration agreed to a cap of $30 million per institution. Seven universities received the full $30 million; Wayne State was allocated $30 million for the School of Medicine s Biomedical Research Building. Other Legislative Issues Now that the legislative year has ended, all bills that we have been tracking effectively die. Legislation that would allow community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees and change concealed weapons laws on campuses will have to be re-introduced and start the legislative process all over in the coming year. Rep. John Walsh (R-Livonia) has said publically that he will be reintroducing the legislation allowing community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees early next year. Because he is now in a position of leadership in the House, we assume that the bill(s) will move in the first few months of the year. As in the past, we will work with the Presidents Council on this issue.

3 New Legislative Leadership The following is list of the new legislative leadership for the coming year: House of Representatives Speaker of the House House Minority Leader Twp.) House Appropriations Chair James Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) Richard Hammel (D-Mt. Morris Chuck Moss (R-Birmingham) Senate Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) Senate Appropriations Chair Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw) Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Tonya Schuitmaker (R-Lawton) Capital Outlay Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Darwin Booher (R-Evart)

4 Please see the following Michigan Senate press release for a full list of Senate Committee Chair selections.

5

6

7

8 Governor-elect Appointments The following is a list of relevant appointments that Governor Rick Snyder has made so far: Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore (founder of the Muchmore, Harrington, Smalley and Associates lobbying firm) State Treasurer Andy Dillon (former Democratic Speaker of the House) State Budget Director John Nixon (former Director of the Governor s Office of Planning & Budget in the State of Utah) Special Legislative Advisor Dick Posthumus (former Lt. Governor) Director of Strategy William Rustem (former President & CEO of Public Sector Consultants) MEDC Chairman Doug Rothwell (President & CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan) MEDC CEO Michael Finney (former President & CEO of Ann Arbor Spark) Dept. of Community Health Olga Dazzo (former President & CEO of Physicians Health Plan at Sparrow Health System) Annual Legislative Brunch The Office of and Alumni Relations will host our annual legislative brunch on January 15, 2011, from 11 a.m. 1 p.m. at the Marvin Danto Engineering Development Center.

9 COMMUNITY RELATIONS Wayne Cares Food Drive Wayne Cares, in partnership with AARP and Forgotten Harvest, conducted a campus and community-wide food drive from November 8 through November 17, On Thursday, November 18, more than 70 volunteers spent the day collecting and sorting food at Adams Field. Volunteers included participants from AARP, the business community, WSU staff and students, including WSU student athletes. More than 17,000 pounds of food was collected, sorted, and distributed to the community. We achieved our goal to collect enough food for 300 families of four for a week. The donated food was delivered to Forgotten Harvest agencies and AARP families on Friday, November 19, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Wayne State University s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute will be held on Tuesday, January 18, 2011, at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. The keynote speaker is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, six time NBA champion and MVP, author, and philanthropist. Net proceeds from the event will be donated to Adopt-A-Classroom, a non-profit organization that increases opportunity for student success by empowering teachers with community partners and funds to purchase resources for the classroom. Over the past three years, the MLK tribute has raised and donated $23,000 to 23 classrooms in the Detroit area Community Leadership Awards Two Community Leadership Awards will be presented at the MLK event. The awards will be given to an individual and organization whose contributions affect our community in a positive way. The entire WSU community was invited to submit nominees for consideration. Community leadership award winners are: WSU Math Corps The WSU Math Corps is a combined academic enrichment and mentoring program that brings middle and high school students from Detroit public schools together with college students to learn mathematics from each other, as well as to interact with professional mathematicians in a university setting. It is based on the dream of creating a self-perpetuating "corps" of students from middle school through college who excel academically, hold values that breed success in general, and who, through strong mentoring relationships, pass their knowledge and their values on to younger students, who in turn do the same.

10 Jeff DeBruyn Jeff DeBruyn is the President of the Corktown Residents' Council (CRC), a Partner and Founder of The Imagination Station of Roosevelt Park (facethestation.com). He serves as a Peacekeeper at Manna Community Meal soup kitchen, and is a staff member at Day House shelter for women and children in Corktown. Jeff has worked tirelessly to engage and serve the entire Corktown community. Under his leadership, the CRC's membership has increased 300%. Since taking a leadership role in Corktown, more than 25 blighted, seemingly intractable properties have become productive.