Nearly a dozen talent-focused bills are moving through the final stages toward passage.

Among the many MMA-supported talent bills:

• Senate Bills 941 and 942: Investing in Michigan’s long-term workforce needs through Governor Snyder’s Marshall Plan for Talent
• SB 946: Codifying the Skilled Trades Training Fund and renaming it the Going Pro Talent Program to ensure long-term talent funding options
• SB 684-685: Ensuring ongoing career discovery and helping students document tangible and marketable career skills achieved during education through a Talent Portfolio
• House Bills 5139, 5141-5142, 5145: Opening CTE career pathways, providing students with increased educational options and addressing the continuing shortage of CTE instructors
• SB 175: Preserving students’ ability to utilize flexible course options

“It is estimated that the professional trades fields will add 15,000 new jobs each year through 2024; a trend that will only grow larger as the Baby Boomer generation retires,” said Delaney McKinley, MMA senior director of government affairs and membership. “This talent gap has now become a primary barrier to economic growth in Michigan.”

With the Legislature set to adjourn for summer recess, and a shortened fall session due to 2018 elections, MMA anticipates these bills will move swiftly to passage this week and with the goal of being signed into law by Governor Snyder by the end of June.

“In order to counter this shift, we need to do a better job of connecting parents, students, teachers and employers to help reveal the many lucrative career pathways available to students and the skills they’ll need to join Michigan’s future workforce,” said McKinley. “These legislative efforts look to achieve that through a variety of ways — how we talk to students, how we work with parents and educators, how we train students and instructors and how we fund talent programs. These are all pieces dedicated to the same long-term solution.”

This article originally appeared in the 6/11/18 issue of MFG Voice.

Contact Delaney McKinley

Senior Director of Government Affairs and Membership
Call 517-487-8530
E-mail mckinley@mimfg.org