MUSKEGON – State Representatives Mary Valentine (D-Norton Shores) and Doug Bennett (D-Muskegon) will hold a town hall meeting on Thursday, May 15, to share information about "Hire Michigan First," an aggressive House plan to immediately create jobs and ensure that tax dollars used to attract businesses to Michigan benefit our working families – not out-of-state or illegal workers.
"Michigan families are facing increasingly difficult times and have been hit hard by downsizing and outsourcing," Valentine said. "When Michigan tax dollars are used to create jobs, our workers should get first crack at those jobs. As we fight to create good-paying jobs right now, I am committed to fighting for every single job and 'Hire Michigan First' makes it clear that we will absolutely do that."
The town hall meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, at the Muskegon Community College Stevenson Center for Higher Education, 221 S. Quarterline Road.
Representatives of the building and construction trades will join Valentine and Bennett to discuss the plan and answer questions. Everyone is welcome to attend.
The comprehensive Hire Michigan First plan will:
Reward companies that hire more Michigan workers with tax breaks and other economic development tools.
Require companies that accept contracts to build state buildings to hire only Michigan workers, increasing the current requirement of 50 percent to 100 percent.
Require companies that accept economic development incentives to report on who they hire to ensure that Michigan residents are put first, encouraging transparency and accountability.
Crack down on companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers by canceling their state contracts and tax incentives, requiring them to pay back incentives already received and barring them from future contracts.
"Taxpayer dollars should be used to reward Michigan workers," Bennett said. "We must provide our local workers with as many employment opportunities as possible, and this plan does that. My colleagues and I are working hard to make the 'Hire Michigan First' plan a top priority for the Legislature."
Valentine and Bennett encourage residents to visit a new Web site, www.hiremichfirst.com, to sign an online petition urging the Legislature to take quick bipartisan action to pass the "Hire Michigan First" plan.