HomeTop StoriesChild labor, charter school transparency, public transportation among bills signed by Whitmer

Child labor, charter school transparency, public transportation among bills signed by Whitmer

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this week signed a slew of bills that lawmakers passed during the previous Democratic-led legislative session last year. She passed legislation covering a range of policies, from child labor to public transport.

Here’s a look at what she signed during the bill signings on Thursday and Friday.

Transparency of charter schools

Whitmer signed House Bills 5231, 5232, 5233 and 5234 to require charter schools to disclose their partner organizations — including for-profit entities contracted to manage the schools — in promotional materials, websites and student application forms. She also approved House Bill 5269, which would require schools to disclose average salary information for teachers and support staff on their websites.

Name change procedure

House Bills 5300 and 5303 change the process for someone changing their name or gender identity on legal documents. For example, the legislation eliminates the requirement that a person provide an affidavit from a doctor stating that he or she has performed gender reassignment surgery to change the gender designation on a birth certificate.

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Equality Michigan — an LGBTQ+ advocacy group — applauded the changes, describing them as a legislative victory for transgender people. “House Bills 5300 and 5303 remove archaic, harmful and unjust restrictions on our state’s legal name change process, such as burdensome criminal background fingerprint checks, presumptions of fraud and the dangerous requirement that transgender people publish their name change hearings in newspapers,” said Equality Michigan Executive Director Erin Knott in a statement on December 20 after the Senate voted on the bills. Every Democratic state lawmaker voted in favor of the bills, while every Republican opposed them.

Wayne County Opt-Out Communities

House Bill 6088, signed by Whitmer, would end the ability of Wayne County communities to opt out of the transit millage that funds the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) regional bus system in Southeast Michigan. Seventeen Wayne County communities currently opt for SMART, including Detroit, but Michigan’s largest city has its own transportation department. The bill passed with concerted support from Democratic lawmakers against Republican opposition.

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Child labor in Michigan

A 2023 investigation published by The New York Times uncovered violations of child labor laws in the U.S. and exposed migrant children skipping school to work dangerous jobs, including in Michigan. The reporting led to legislative efforts in Congress and the Michigan Legislature.

House Bill 5594, signed by Whitmer, makes changes to Michigan’s child labor law to require the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity instead of schools to issue work permits for minors and change the hours minors can work.

Bill sponsor state Rep. Phil Skaggs, D-East Grand Rapids, said work permits for children are scattered among Michigan high schools, but his legislation would create a central database within the state’s labor department to keep track of children who work. “They didn’t know where they were because the old system was all through their local high school,” he said. Skaggs’ other bill proposed increasing the penalty for employers who violate Michigan’s child labor laws, but that failed to cross the finish line during the last legislative session. “But we’re going to work on it and see if we can move them in a bipartisan way,” he said.

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Education savings and disabled residents

Whitmer approved House Bill 5783, which expands the types of expenses the Michigan Education Savings Program (MESP) can cover to include fees, books, supplies and equipment for an internship program and student loan payments.

Another bill Whitmer signed — House Bill 5781 — expands eligibility for the Michigan Achieving a Better Life Experience (MiABLE) savings program to about 500,000 of the state’s disabled residents and their families, according to state Rep. Sharon MacDonell, D-Troy. .

State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks celebrated the new laws in a statement Thursday. “For MiABLE, this means more people with disabilities will have the opportunity to save for current and future expenses without jeopardizing government supports like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income,” she said. She also welcomed the expansion of MESP. “I applaud Governor Whitmer for signing these two bills into law that will financially empower Michigan residents and taxpayers.”

Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: New Michigan laws on education, transit and child labor

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