Governor Whitmer Delivers Annual State of the State Address
By: John LaMacchia,
March 3, 2025
Last Wednesday Governor Whitmer gave her seventh State of the State address. It hit on the themes of working together in a bipartisan manner, touted accomplishments, and laid out a few priorities for the upcoming year that she stated in a simple fashion…
- One… Costs. Let’s make life more affordable.
- Two… Jobs. Let’s create more opportunities to help people earn more money.
- Three… Results. Let’s make government work better for the people we all serve.
She touched on a couple top priorities for our members, housing and roads. On housing, she wants to make it easier to “build, baby, build”. It was also refreshing to hear her recognize that some of the barriers to buying a home include lending and supply.
On road funding, she was very clear that the solution will require compromise, and to get it right, we’ll all have to recognize some hard truths. Here is how she put it…
- To my friends in the GOP… a long-term fix means new, fair sources of revenue. We can’t cut our way to better roads by slashing public safety, health, or schools.
- To my fellow Democrats… cuts will need to be a part of the solution.
- To the business community… we can’t put this on the backs of the middle class.
Beyond that, she discussed streamlining state permitting, education, and the recent success of working on a bipartisan solution to address wages and paid leave.
With the State of the State address and the Governor’s budget proposal behind us, the House and the Senate will begin working on their individual budgets. We expect budget committees to begin meeting immediately and continue through the month of March. We anticipate each chamber will likely pass their own version of the state’s budget no later than the end of April.
If you would like to watch the speech, click here. To read the speech, click here.
John LaMacchia is the League’s director of state & federal affairs. He can be reached at [email protected] or 517-908-0303.