Legislative Task Force Kicks Off Development of New Platform

Earlier this month, SEMCOG’s Legislative Policy Platform Task Force kicked off development of the region’s 2025-2026 federal and State legislative policy platform. As I had hoped and anticipated, the bipartisan group of local government and education leaders set aside their political differences to focus on the policy areas where we can find consensus across the region. As I said, this is no small feat in a hyper-politized summer of presidential politicking, but I suppose it’s just another way that we see “Locals Leading” collaborative conversations – seeking policies and solutions that are beneficial for our region.

What happened at the task force’s first meeting?

Task Force Chairperson Frank Viviano, Macomb Township Supervisor, and Vice Chair Robert McCraight, Mayor, Romulus, led a meeting featuring presentations from SEMCOG staff and lobbyists on topics including: how SEMCOG advocates for the region in Lansing and Washington; Current regional planning and policy trends; and state and federal policy considerations through the remainder of the current legislative session. These presentations set a baseline for understanding SEMCOG’s policy and advocacy work.

The task force then broke into smaller discussion groups to raise the policy issues critical to their communities and the region – focusing on SEMCOG’s issue areas: Infrastructure; Communities; Economy and Workforce; and Natural Assets. The breakout discussions were facilitated by SEMCOG’s policy staff and lobbyists, who took copious notes for the task force to reference when they meet again in September.

What’s next?

The task force meets again on September 26, for a robust policy discussion that will incorporate the issues raised at the first meeting, as well as feedback received via facilitated discussion with the Justice40 Communities Task Force and SEMCOG’s education members. The task force will also consider input received from SEMCOG’s ongoing Legislative Input Survey, so if you haven’t already taken the survey please do so!

After the task force’s September meeting, I’ll provide a recap of that discussion and outline the remaining work they have planned, through their final meeting on November 14. If everything goes according to our task force timeline, the 2025-2026 Legislative Policy Platform will be sent to SEMCOG’s Executive Committee for final approval in December.