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January's Office Hours For State Rep. Greg Alexander
Russ Survance
Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:36:35 EST
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At State Representative Greg Alexander's Bad Axe Office Hours he discussed a variety of issues and took questions from the community that was in attendance.
He started by saying Michigan's legislative process faces significant gridlock due to partisan divides, resulting in a historically low number of bills passed and over 100 bills "rammed through" without proper review during a lame duck session. He criticized "pork barrel" spending in the state budget and a 24% wholesale tax increase on marijuana.
He expressed his major concern is the misuse of over a billion dollars in unspent departmental funds, including money for "ghost employees," which was then diverted for unapproved projects like a $200 million prison expansion.
The House is attempting to claw back $645 million in these funds, leading to a lawsuit from the Attorney General. As a part of their efforts for transparency and accountability.
Alexander stated that a key policy debate include efforts to restore local control over green energy projects.
He then stated that they passed a new law banning cell phones in schools during instructional hours, but had to make sure the wording was right to provide protections as well.
And he said that there is a bill to end the Attorney General's practice of "court shopping".
Local issues also include bureaucratic hurdles for Amish communities seeking to build farm lanes and a House bill addressing tax payment postmark dates for townships.
He said his next office hours will be on February 27th at 9:00am at the Bad Axe Airport.
