RIP, State Representative Mike Simpson

by: ScottyUrb

Fri Dec 18, 2009 at 20:31:26 PM EST

A memorial service to honor the life and work of State Representative Mike Simpson will be held Tuesday, December 22, at 11:00 a.m.

The memorial will be held in the East Jackson High School Auditorium, 1566 N. Sutton Road, Jackson, MI 49202.

In lieu of flowers, the family is respectfully requesting that donations be made in memory of Representative Simpson to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

MIRS and other sources are saying that State Rep. Mike Simpson (D-Blackman Twp.) has died of a heart attack. He was 47.

Simpson had represented the 65th State House District since 2007. He had chaired the House Agriculture Committee at the time of his death. Click here for a more detailed biography.

Simpson had a rare blood disorder and had to undergo treatment. A week ago, his office released this statement saying that he had been taking good care of himself, was responding very well to the treatment, and - despite his condition - was able to do a lot of work from home.

Our deepest condolences go to the entire Simpson family, and to the many others who knew him.

UPDATED 8:45PM by PerfectStormer: Reports are coming from the Capitol that the House's Sergeant at Arms has draped Rep. Simpson's chair in memorial and placed flowers on his desk. The flag at the Capitol will fly at half-staff until his funeral.

MichLib Exclusive: House Dems Speak Out on State of the State

by: LiberalLucy

Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 12:45:21 PM EST

After last night's uniting State of the State address by Gov. Granholm, I had the opportunity to speak with several Democratic members of the State Legislature. I asked them to name an issue that they had been working on that they heard the Governor mention in her address.

While I only got to interview just a handful of legislators, I think you might be surprised on the breadth and depth of the issues that they are at work fighting hard for you on. The issues range from protecting our natural resources, fighting for the economy, promoting alternative energy, to fighting corporate interests and promoting Michigan's film industry, and they're all located below the fold. 

Many thanks to Reps. Brown, Donigan, Meisner, Miller, Simpson and Valentine for their time and participation last evening.

Will The Michigan Legislature Protect Our Water in 2008?

by: davemec

Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 09:46:04 AM EST

Since Michigan entered the Union, our state government has had a duty to maintain what one judge called a “high, solemn and perpetual trust” by safeguarding our water resources for the public. It’s one of the reasons we still have Great Lakes instead of pretty bad lakes. In 2008 the Michigan Legislature has a choice of whether the state will fulfill this public duty – or open the floodgates for greater and greater control of water by powerful private special interests.

The choice is as clear as night and day – or House and Senate. House Democrats have crafted legislation now on the House calendar that will write into statutory law the public trust doctrine. H.B. 5068, part of a package that would also ratify the eight-state Great Lakes Compact limiting water diversions, contains strong language sought by Clean Water Action, Sierra Club, Michigan LCV, Michigan Environmental Council, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation and more than 50 other groups working together under the Great Lakes, Great Michigan banner.

The language in question says this: in reviewing any proposal for a major water withdrawal from Michigan’s water resources, the Department of Environmental Quality must act as “trustee for waters of the state” under the doctrine, and authorize only those projects that it finds are in the public interest.

Why is this important? Because water, by common law and tradition, belongs to all the people of Michigan. And because under international trade law and even the Great Lakes Compact, there is a danger that private investors may claim a right to take that water for private profit – or sue the government if it attempts to stop them. This is no abstract argument. The attempt by Nestle Waters North America to tap the headwaters of Great Lakes tributaries in Michigan for sale in faraway markets is already well underway. It would be difficult for the DEQ to find any additional proposed withdrawal by Nestle as “in the public interest” if it diminishes stream flow and aquatic habitat (as its Mecosta County project does) and promotes private profit with no corresponding benefit to the public.

Simply put, without this public trust language in the new statute, Michigan water law could condone the privatization of public waters for profit. In a time of water scarcity not just in faroff lands but in Atlanta and the Southwest, and a time when private capture of water for sale is booming, nothing puts Michigan’s future at risk more than transferring decisions about our water from a public trustee to a rich lobby of water barons.

Unfortunately, over in the Michigan Senate, Republicans have so far refused to affirm the public trust doctrine in law. State Sen. Patty Birkholz (R-Saugatuck Township), often a pro-conservation voice and vote, has so far opposed public trust language. And it was the Senate Republicans that insisted in 2006 on a loophole in the state’s original water withdrawal law that redefines Michigan water diverted out of state in containers under 5.7 gallons as “a consumptive use” rather than the export/diversion that it is. That potentially disastrous exemption for a powerful special interest could in the end undo all that politicians hope to do for the Great Lakes – unless they move fast and restate what the public believes – that the Great Lakes and their tributaries, including the groundwater and springs that feed them, belong to the public.

The House Democrats are on the right track. The Senate Republicans can show their conservation colors by proclaiming the public trust as the central principle of Michigan water law. The time to do it is now.

House Democrats - Time to Step Up or Step Down

by: NoviDemocrat

Fri Sep 21, 2007 at 10:09:54 AM EDT